Hi, roses need about 4 feet each way between each plant, and grown in full sun, they prefer a bed to themselves, but you could plant annual bedding plants around the edges of the bed, as for colours I think a mixture can be very effective, as long as you don,t have the same colours together, or you may prefer all one colour, it,s really your preference. good luck derekm.

There are quite a few ground cover geraniums which would be good to grow around and under your roses, and wouldn't take too much goodness out of the ground if not planted too close, Snowlisa. Forget-me-nits also look good and will seed themselves around at the end of the season, so are good value for money. Annie

Roses need to be planted about 3 - 4' apart on the square. and yes there are plenty of perennials that are low growing not more than 12" tall that woud be fine with your roses. But it depends on the colour scheme as to which perennials you choose.

It also depends what location you are in and what the conditions are. Some hybrid teas and floribundas don't like it too cold, windy or wet. In which case you could go for a rose more suitable. Check out the well known rose sites on the web. This will give you plenty of ideas.

Thanks for your comments.