I just did a new bed and was looking for the same information and came across Walkers Low Catmint. It was the perennial plant of the year in 2007. Is suppose to be an all season bloomer. Might want to check it out.

Just planted 3 1 quart size.

Oh, you're going to have so much fun doing this. I use French marigolds as nematode traps and white coneflowers, black-eyed susan, salvias, butterfly weed, and bee balms of all kinds are among my favorite perennials. "Black and Blue" salvia is absolutely spectacular around pale pink roses. I have all sorts of beneficial insects, butterflies, and migratory birds in the garden because I make a point to interplant with host and nectar plants, including herbs and wildflowers.

I have a lot of perennials mixed into my front bed with the mini roses. I have heuchera, aquilegua, clematis, bell flower, campanula, dianthus, chrysanthemums, oriental lilies, a myriad of spring bulbs and an azalea at one end as well. They all bloom at different times and keep it looking fresh and new all season.

Geranium 'Rozanne'
Lilies
Day Lilys
Salvias that do not spread aggressively
Daisies
Agastache
Hellebores for the shady spots
Bulbs such as Hippeastrum, Sprekelia, Dalia
"Patio" sized Clematis (or C. integrifolia types for winter-chill climates)
Well behaved Carex of various species
Annuals/biennials that reseed every year, like Anagalis, Lobelia, Impatiens, Cerinthe, California Poppy
Bearded Iris that do not spread aggressively
Echeveria 'Imbricata'

I love my black and blue salvia too, even though I have runners trying to come up were I don't want them. I plan on digging and moving those else were. I have a few other salvias too. Some stay were I want them, others are not sure they really want to survive and yet others think they own the place. The hummingbirds spend hours each day checking them out, so they are staying.

My campanulas are not really happy, going to have to find something different or try a different location for them I suppose.

The clematis took a year of growing with very little blooming, but boy are they paying me back for not grabbing the shovel this year!

And my Santa Barbara Daisy border is getting BIG

I planted Walker's Low Nepeta last year as a quart size plant...I --VASTLY-- underestimated how much it would grow which is why I moved some stuff. I don't quite mind. It fills out out a corner where "Evelyn" is planted and is the PERFECT compliment of violety blue to Evelyn's soft pink/apricot. I had a little space where the overlap of the 2 Nepetas met, so I planted a Banana Cream Leucanthemum there as a pale shade of yellow.

I have a spot in front of "The Huntington Rose" that I'm debating on what to get...either white or blue and lower growing but the choices are nearly endless between various different breeds of platycodon, campanula, snowcap leucanthemum, etc.

The other void I have is lower growing where "Golden Celebration" is. I have Blue Queen Salvia planted on the 4 corners of Golden Celebration but something slightly smaller would be preferable...Grand Mum Monarda would be nice, but I'm not too sure if I like how short the bloom time is, although I will get some and plant it somewhere else. Gaura or Red Fox Veronica was another option, but I'm not sure if it's short or vibrantly pink enough.

Choices, choices. I saw Immortality and Breakers Iris that I could pick up, but I'm having a real mind boggling amount of time to figure out where to place them.

Essentially...I just want them all...well aside from Aconitum which is REALLY toxic.

Perennials make roses look prettier :) I love contrast colors and try to plant dramatically different colored perennials with my roses. I grow:

Columbines (purple and pink)
Nigella Love-in-a-mist Miss Jekyll (gorgeous blue)
Salvia May Queen (purplish blue)
Dianthus Fire Witch (pink) and some other assorted ones
Bleeding Hearts- traditional ones as well as Gold Leaf
Mum Alma Poetschke (bright pinkish mauve)
Iris Immortality and Ebb Tide (white, blue)
Lots of daffodils and hyacinths in assorted colors
Lilies in mixed colors

I want to add anemones this year!

I buy my perennials in little plastic pots from a florist at my local farmer's market. He sells cut flowers but always has a little table of perennials he's started. Very cheap and always great quality :)

"Essentially...I just want them all..."

This gave me a giggle because I have this problem too. I want a little of everything and can always find "one more space" to fit something in.

I wanted either Brookside or Rozanne Geranium, but we have none of the blue varieties in this area to buy from...plenty of the pink though.

Just stay away from anything invasive, esp if your space is at a premium and you have better things to do than pull out plants. I do Not use: vinca, ajuga, rudebecka, cone flowers, mints, creeping thyme, iris, Virginia bluebells, violets, ground-cover campanula, obedient plant, or anything that comes with the words "spreads," naturalizes," or "ground cover."

I don't really have anything invasive aside from creeping phlox and of course...*cringe*...Lily of Valley(mother planted it)

I have echinachea magnus and rudbeckia and neither have been invasive for me. All of the campanulas I have grown are small ground cover and have never spread enough for me. Same goes for Ajuga...it doesn't spread enough. Might just be the Preen I put down...not sure, but outside of "Lily of the Valley" AKA The Devil, it's not too bad in my garden.

By the way, I picked up some Queen Victoria Lobelia and planted it and added in some Goldstrum Rudbeckia, May Night Salvia, Brandy Cherry Rudbeckia, and Snowcap Shasta Daisies into a raised side bed on the side of the house. Nothing survived or did well in it last year and I came to realize it needed a vast soil overhaul so I added a lot of peat and composted manure to help the soil retain some moisture and nutrients. I have Princess Alexandia of Kent in a pot right now. I might take a cutting off of her and put her in the center as a pinkish focal point.

We are doing well with a number of different:

Veronicas: Royal Candles, Icicle, and Giles van Hees.

Asters: 'Alma Potscke', 'Harrington's Pink', 'October Skies', 'Purple Dome', 'Blue Bird'and 'Crimson Brocade

Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'.

Achillea: 'Coronation Gold'; 'Moonshine'.

I love veronica, too, with its dark blue spikes that bloom all season. Tall and narrow.
Portulacas reseed each summmer giving blotches of yellow color (I can't get the oranges to come back).
Daylilies preceded the roses into the garden. They take over after the roses' spring flush. When they are done, the roses are back! I grow LOTS of daylilies.
Clematis goes great with climbing roses.
Orange wallflower blooms forever as does blue scabiosa.
Spring bulbs tucked in here and there start everything off.
Have fun!

I plant lemon thyme around the bases. Keeps weeds down too. If you spray the roses though - just don't eat it!

I like the mini daylilies, Look for Siloam daylilies SO many, you may get addicted to those. I like siloam junebug and siloam doodlebug.

Alma potske aster is good but gets large and sprawley... I am guessing you do not have much room. And you don't want to cram too much into a rose garden or you will affect the circulation and you may increase your diseases.

I have the catmint too but it does not grow low, it gets pretty sprawley too, so I have to keep it trimmed. Not for use under small roses as it will overrun them.

And I have planted sweet allysum or white petunias as I have done at times.

Jeffcat, if you like canterbury bells, the nearest thing to it in a perennial flower is campanula persicifola and the very best of these is a relatively new variety, 'Takion Blue'. In my mid-Michigan garden, it has very stout stems that never need support, will bloom all summer if you keep it deadheaded and is reliably perennial.

Here is a link that might be useful: Takion Blue

I grow a patchwork of pinks, thrift, pussy- toes and creeping phlox around some nice rocks in the fore- ground of my pastel roses. Yews behind with clematis scampering over.
I grow a selection of blue/ purples to accent Goldenbration graham thomas--- specifically pacific giants delphinium behind and veronica and Salvia in front, with a variegated Iris also as a focal point.
My deep red and orange roses (chrysler imp, Mr. Lincoln, intrigue, big purple, lady emma hamilton- i grow agastache and hyssop in scarlet and orange colors with a couple little pink fox veronicas.
I also A patch of blood red daylilies on either side- which i am not sure about now. I had thrips on the roses and when they got in the lillies it was impossible to control and they'd be back on the roses after spraying. Theres just so much mass of leaves on lillies to spray well enough. I almost mowed them down.

I grow a patchwork of pinks, thrift, pussy- toes and creeping phlox around some nice rocks in the fore- ground of my pastel roses. Yews behind with clematis scampering over.
I grow a selection of blue/ purples to accent Goldenbration graham thomas--- specifically pacific giants delphinium behind and veronica and Salvia in front, with a variegated Iris also as a focal point.
My deep red and orange roses (chrysler imp, Mr. Lincoln, intrigue, big purple, lady emma hamilton- i grow agastache and hyssop in scarlet and orange colors with a couple little pink fox veronicas.
I also A patch of blood red daylilies on either side- which i am not sure about now. I had thrips on the roses and when they got in the lillies it was impossible to control and they'd be back on the roses after spraying. Theres just so much mass of leaves on lillies to spray well enough. I almost mowed them down.

I just planted English Lavender, Alyssum, Dill, Butterfly Weed, and I already have Russian Sage, red and white Asian Lillys, really tall Lillys, Day Lillys, Sunflowers, different kinds of Iris' and a Daisy oh and mini yellow Iris' and a lot more Alyssum to be planted along the sidewalk hehe :)

I'm not in this forum very often, but the only thing I'd advise is to plant something that contrasts sharply with your roses. Several people have mentioned Salvia, which I believe is one of the best in contrast for roses, lilies, daylilies, and many other perennials. It is blue/purple, and its spike-y shape is great with flowers that have a more rounded shape.