Under planting canary bird rose

[Loq]

I have a walkway border alongside our house with four canary bird rose bushes at the back of it. It’s obviously full/bushy hip height upwards but surrounding them is bare soil. I’d love your recommendations for plants to under plant. Thanks in advance!

East facing

Are they standardized? Sounds like it from your description. Or do you mean they're ordinary canary bird roses but you want to plant something else alongside them? If they're standardised, I assume they'll have a weeping habit so will block out a lot of light. I would under-plant with anything that likes a shady spot, same as you would with a small tree. The question is whether it is really shady or actually quite sunny. You're just in time for snowdrops in the green if you like those, or you could have pulmonaria or hellebores? A dark hellebore would look good. Cyclamen have a pretty leaf and flower, or if you feel it's too dry for them, you could go for geraniums?

It’s a sunny spot, I love your suggestions I’d not considered hellebores

I’d plant spring bulbs and Cranesbill geraniums, which a pretty tough in underplanting conditions. I have them growing under a hedge.

Salvias work well with roses and there's quite a range of varieties to choose from

Short salvias, as TonTonMacoute says - very beneficial for roses, protects them from blackspot.

Really helpful suggestions! Off to look at cranesbill now

Presumably you mulch your roses with manure? If so, avoid underplanting with anything that dislikes that. Cranesbill fit the bill. Rozanne would look great with a yellow rose and flowers right through till the first frost.