Climbing roses are showstoppers—but even stars need a strong supporting cast. The right shrubs and perennials can make your rose garden feel like a dream, adding color, texture, and structure that complements every bloom.
These 16 pairings bring out the best in your climbing roses—and 4 others? Not so much.
1. Lavender: A Fragrant Friend
Lavender’s silvery-blue spikes create a dreamy contrast against climbing roses, especially pink or white varieties. The complementary colors make both plants pop in your garden landscape.
Beyond looks, lavender’s strong scent naturally repels aphids and other pests that commonly attack roses. Their similar growing requirements—full sun and well-draining soil—make them natural garden buddies.
Plant lavender about 2 feet from your climbing roses to give both plants room to breathe while still creating that gorgeous cottage garden effect.
2. Nepeta (Catmint): Purple Haze
Nepeta’s cloud-like mounds of lavender-blue flowers create a soft, billowing effect at the base of climbing roses. This hardy perennial starts blooming in late spring and continues through summer with proper deadheading.
Bees and butterflies absolutely love catmint, bringing beneficial pollinators right where your roses need them. The relaxed, informal growth habit softens the sometimes rigid structure of climbing roses.
For best results, choose varieties like ‘Walker’s Low’ or ‘Six Hills Giant’ and position them where they can spill slightly onto pathways.
3. Clematis: The Perfect Climbing Partner
Clematis vines trained alongside climbing roses create a show-stopping vertical garden. When these two climbers intertwine, you get twice the flowers in the same space—talk about garden magic!
Choose clematis varieties that bloom at different times than your roses for continuous color. Early-flowering clematis like ‘Nelly Moser’ pairs wonderfully with later-blooming roses.
Remember the old gardening advice: roses grow from the ground up while clematis prefer cool feet and sunny heads, making them ideal companions sharing the same trellis or arbor.
4. Lady’s Mantle: Elegant Edging
Lady’s Mantle creates a soft, frothy border that perfectly frames climbing roses. The chartreuse flowers and scalloped leaves add delicate texture against bold rose blooms.
Morning dew collects on Lady’s Mantle’s leaves in perfect little droplets, creating a magical effect when sunlight hits them. This easy-growing perennial thrives in partial shade, making it perfect for the base of north or east-facing rose-covered walls.
Cut Lady’s Mantle flowers last wonderfully in arrangements with roses, extending your garden’s beauty indoors.
5. Salvia: Spiky Contrast
Salvia’s tall, upright flower spikes create stunning vertical interest beneath climbing roses. The deep blue or purple blooms of varieties like ‘May Night’ or ‘Caradonna’ make pink or yellow roses absolutely pop.
Hummingbirds flock to salvia’s tubular flowers, bringing delightful garden visitors. These drought-tolerant perennials require minimal care once established, perfect for low-maintenance rose gardens.
Plant salvias in groups of three or five for the most impact, positioning them where their spiky form can contrast with the softer shape of rose blooms.
6. Boxwood: Structured Support
Boxwood shrubs provide year-round structure and formality that beautifully balances the sometimes wild growth of climbing roses. Their dense evergreen foliage creates a perfect backdrop that makes rose colors stand out dramatically.
Small-leaved varieties like ‘Green Velvet’ or ‘Winter Gem’ can be shaped into neat balls or low hedges. This classic pairing works in formal gardens where boxwood outlines beds containing climbing roses trained on obelisks or pillars.
The contrasting textures—boxwood’s small, glossy leaves against roses’ larger matte foliage—adds sophisticated visual interest even when roses aren’t blooming.
7. Geranium (Cranesbill): Colorful Groundcover
Hardy geraniums create a flowering carpet beneath climbing roses, covering bare soil with pretty blooms. Unlike their annual cousins, these perennial geraniums spread gently to fill spaces between other plants.
Varieties like Geranium ‘Rozanne’ offer months of blue-purple flowers that complement any rose color. Their mounding habit helps suppress weeds while their shallow roots don’t compete with roses for nutrients.
After their first flush of flowers, trim geraniums back by half to encourage fresh growth and more blooms, extending the color show well into fall.
8. Hydrangea: Lush Companion
Hydrangeas create a stunning layered effect when planted near climbing roses. Their big, bouncy blooms provide a different flower shape and texture that complements roses perfectly.
Compact varieties like ‘Little Lime’ or ‘Bobo’ work best, as they won’t compete too much for space. The hydrangea’s ability to bloom in partial shade makes them ideal for the north side of rose-covered structures where other plants might struggle.
For a designer-worthy combination, pair blue hydrangeas with peachy climbing roses like ‘Crepuscule’ or white hydrangeas with crimson roses.
9. Delphinium: Towering Beauty
Delphiniums create dramatic vertical spires that echo the upward growth of climbing roses. Their tall, stately flower stalks in shades of blue, purple, pink, or white add architectural interest to rose gardens.
Plant these showstoppers about 2 feet from your climbing roses where they can be admired together but have their own root space. Both plants appreciate rich soil and regular feeding, making their care requirements compatible.
Stake delphiniums early in the season to prevent wind damage, and deadhead spent blooms to encourage a possible second flowering later in summer.
10. Russian Sage: Airy Texture
Russian sage creates clouds of lavender-blue flowers that float ethereally alongside climbing roses. Its silvery foliage offers beautiful contrast against the deeper green of rose leaves.
This drought-tolerant perennial thrives in hot, sunny spots where it can help protect roses from harsh afternoon sun. The airy, see-through quality of Russian sage allows it to blend seamlessly with other plants without blocking views.
Give this vigorous grower plenty of space—at least 3 feet from your climbing roses—as it can reach 3-4 feet tall and wide when mature.
11. Phlox: Sweet Summer Blooms
Garden phlox delivers weeks of colorful, fragrant flowers that perfectly complement climbing roses. Their sweet scent mingles beautifully with rose fragrance, creating an intoxicating summer garden.
Tall varieties like ‘David’ (white) or ‘Laura’ (purple) work best with climbing roses, creating a middle layer in the garden design. Their flat-topped flower clusters offer a different bloom shape that contrasts nicely with cup-shaped roses.
Good air circulation helps prevent powdery mildew on phlox, so space plants generously and remove a few stems from the center if they become crowded.
12. Allium: Spring Surprise
Allium bulbs send up perfectly round purple flower heads that look like garden lollipops among climbing roses. Their quirky shape adds unexpected fun to formal rose plantings.
Plant these bulbs in fall for spring blooms that bridge the gap between spring bulbs and summer roses. Even after the flowers fade, their sculptural seedheads add interesting structure through summer.
Try varieties like ‘Purple Sensation’ for medium height or ‘Globemaster’ for dramatic 3-foot stems that stand tall beside climbing roses.
13. Lamb’s Ears: Soft Texture
Lamb’s ears create a soft, silvery carpet beneath climbing roses with their velvety, touchable foliage. The fuzzy, gray-green leaves offer beautiful textural contrast to glossy rose foliage.
This drought-tolerant ground cover spreads slowly to fill bare spots while its low growth habit doesn’t interfere with rose canes. The lavender flower spikes that appear in summer add vertical interest at the base of climbing roses.
For maximum impact, plant lamb’s ears where afternoon sun will highlight their silvery color and where garden visitors can reach down for a touch.
14. Dianthus: Spicy Scent
Dianthus creates a fragrant carpet of pink, red, or white flowers beneath climbing roses. Their spicy clove scent complements rose fragrance for a multi-dimensional sensory experience.
Low-growing varieties like ‘Firewitch’ or ‘Bath’s Pink’ form neat mounds that suppress weeds while adding months of color. Their blue-gray foliage looks fresh all season and provides an attractive backdrop even when flowers have faded.
Deadhead spent blooms regularly to encourage repeat flowering through summer and into fall.
15. Coreopsis: Cheerful Daisy-like Blooms
Coreopsis brings non-stop yellow or gold flowers that brighten the base of climbing roses from early summer until frost. Their daisy-like blooms create a cheerful, informal look that softens the garden.
Varieties like ‘Moonbeam’ or ‘Zagreb’ form tidy mounds that work perfectly in front of roses. These easy-care perennials attract butterflies while requiring minimal maintenance—just a midsummer trim to keep them blooming.
The golden flowers of coreopsis create spectacular contrast with purple, pink, or red roses for a color combination that really pops.
16. Ornamental Grasses: Graceful Movement
Ornamental grasses add movement, sound, and winter interest to climbing rose plantings. Their swaying seedheads catch breezes and shimmer in the sunlight, bringing your garden to life.
Compact varieties like Japanese Forest Grass or Blue Fescue work best near roses. The fine texture of grass blades creates beautiful contrast against broader rose foliage.
Position grasses where their distinctive form can be appreciated—perhaps where morning or evening light will backlight their delicate seedheads for a magical glow through fall and winter.
17. AVOID: Aggressive Mint
Mint might smell wonderful, but its aggressive spreading habit makes it a nightmare near climbing roses. The vigorous underground runners quickly invade rose root zones, stealing nutrients and water.
Even when contained in pots, mint often escapes through drainage holes or over the top. Before you know it, you’ll be pulling mint sprouts from throughout your rose bed.
If you love mint’s fragrance near roses, choose better-behaved mint relatives like catmint (Nepeta) that offer similar scent without the invasive tendencies.
18. AVOID: Greedy Bamboo
Bamboo’s exotic look might tempt you, but most varieties are far too aggressive for rose gardens. Running bamboo sends underground shoots that can travel 15 feet or more, popping up right through your rose bed.
The dense root system competes intensely for water and nutrients, leaving roses struggling. Even clumping bamboo varieties eventually grow quite large, casting too much shade for sun-loving roses.
For a similar vertical effect without the problems, consider ornamental grasses like Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ that stay where you plant them.
19. AVOID: Thirsty Hostas
Hostas might seem like perfect rose companions with their lush foliage, but their water needs clash dramatically with roses. These shade-lovers require consistent moisture that can lead to fungal diseases in roses, which prefer drier conditions.
Their dense, shallow root systems compete directly with roses for nutrients in the soil. Additionally, hostas attract slugs and snails that may then move on to damage tender rose growth.
Save hostas for dedicated shade gardens away from your climbing roses where both plants can thrive in their preferred conditions.
20. AVOID: Towering Sunflowers
Sunflowers create major root competition that can stunt climbing roses’ growth. Their massive root systems pull tremendous amounts of water and nutrients from the soil, leaving little for neighboring plants.
The dense shade cast by mature sunflowers blocks essential sunlight that roses need for healthy growth and abundant flowering. Additionally, when sunflowers drop their seeds, you’ll be dealing with volunteer seedlings throughout your rose bed next season.
Plant sunflowers in their own dedicated space where their beauty can shine without harming your precious climbing roses.