· Plant chives, garlic chives and garlic around the base of roses, citrus and fruit trees to discourage climbing insects. Under roses, chives will improve the intensity of their perfume.
· Plant a few clumps of feverfew near roses, as they will attract aphids away from the bushes.
· Grow garlic randomly throughout the rose garden. The cloves don’t have to be harvested and will come up year after year. To find out how to grow garlic easily, go to Growing Garlic.
· Lawn chamomile, alyssum, yarrow and pennyroyal are all low growing and shallow rooted plants that will provide great living mulch and attract beneficial insects to the rose bed.
· Apart from being excellent living mulch, nasturtium will help to repel aphids, white fly and other insects from the garden. Plus, snails love to hide under the large leaves making them easy to find and squash. Don’t plant under the roses as they are too tall growing but plant them in another area of the garden.
· If you’re having trouble with snails in the garden, why not put a bounty on their heads and send the kids out to hunt for them to earn a little extra pocket money.
· Basil is one of the best companion plants of all and is valuable grown throughout the garden. It will repel white fly, aphids, fruit fly and mosquitoes. There are a wide variety of basils, including the smaller growing Greek Basil for underneath roses, so it is easy to mix them in to the landscape.
· Dill will attract ladybirds to the garden, which will eat up to 400 aphids each per week!