Feeding And Thinking Of Companion Plants for Disneyland Roses

The journey this year with our three Disneyland Roses has been all about paying just.a.little.bit of attention to them.  Or at least MORE than I have ever done in years past.  It started with mulching them in to overwinter this past Winter.  Then, I transplanted the first one from the backyard to the southside bed before it broke dormancy.  I also decided to feed these roses - for the first time.  I used a bag of Jobe's Organics Knock-out Rose granular food and started the first feeding in late April (posted in early May).  Then, gave them a second feeding one month later - in late May (posted here in late June, despite the feeding being in late May).  Today, I'm posting in early July, but sharing a photo I took of the bag of rose fertilizer that I used in late June.  

This was the third and final rose feeding of the season.  Late April, Late May, Late June.   

When I was out there feeding the three roses - which have bloomed and are getting reset to have a flush of flowers again, I was thinking about what to plant next to them as companions.  I went around the Web and figured out that there are a couple of things that seem to go well with Floribunda Roses:  some to hide the legs of the roses.  And others that you can plant to help ward of pests and diseases.  This story, from The Spruce, talks about both.  I'm keying in one of each.  First, a plant that 'looks good with Floribunda roses':  Nepeta (Catmint).  From the post:

The feathery purple and blue-gray catmint (Nepeta) beautifully offsets a pale pink rose, and its wispy spires gracefully camouflage any blemishes that may occur on the rose’s foliage.

The other kind of Floribunda companion planting?  Plants that solve problems for roses.  They include ornamental onions or alliums.  From the story:

Roses love garlic. In fact, members of the onion family, such as chives, ornamental alliums, and edible onions, increase the perfume of roses, ward off aphids, and prevent black spot.

I have a couple of drifts of Summer Beauty Ornamental Onions in the backyard that I've been pretty happy with over the past season.  I've come across a few other interesting cultivars of them - like Serendipity - that I've wanted, but haven't bought for lack of a place to plant them.  Now that I know they work well with roses, I *have* a place. 

The other item I've been thinking about for alongside these Disneyland Roses is a pair of espalier'd trees that I could train up the side of the house.   That was on my list for this year, but I haven't - to date - found a pair of trees that I couldn't live without - and didn't have my eyes on the prize at the Morton Arboretum Spring sale this year.  They will have to go my list for next season.  First item for 2022 to-do list?  Companion planting for roses.