Question
QUESTION: Hi!  I live in zone 5 and have a small rose garden with 9 rose bushes.  I currently have weed barrier and small rocks down in the entire bed.  I would like to remove the rocks and put in a ground cover.  Are there any recommended ground covers that I could plant with my rose bushes that would not hurt my roses?  Even possibly enhance them?

ANSWER: Roses don't like competition near their roots so you have to plant flowers that don't have deep roots and will also allow you to get close to the roses to fertilize them. Any plant will not enhance them but will compete for the nutrients. Any type of low annuals are okay and there is a classification of perennials called campanulas, such as hare bells, which stay fairly low and have blue flowers all season long an theirnroots are not really deep.

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QUESTION: Thanks for the advise.  I don't want to do anything that will possibly take away from them, so I will stay away from doing plants.  One more question, if I want to take away the rocks and put bark or something else in, would I still want to put a weed barrier down and how much room around the roses do I not want to have any barrier?  Right now, there is only an inch around the base of the rose bush that isn't covered by the weed barrier.

Answer
Mulch is really the best weed barrier for roses.  Roses love cool,damp roots and will grow better if they have it and a mulch will give them that. Also a mulch shows off the rose bushes and acts as a background. An inch left around the base of the rose canes will be fine.