Style : Gardens : Roses Red, Violets Blue

A garden can be more than a bed of roses, particularly with the help of a few well-placed perennials. As the garden of Bel-Air enthusiast Doris Koren shows, a second planting of tall perennials makes a dramatic background when viewed from the street, and from the house it hides the twiggy backs of the rosebushes.

Designed a decade ago by the late John Wayne Gragg, Koren’s double-sided flower bed features about 60 roses, most of them hybrid teas, and columbine, salvia, delphiniums and foxgloves. (Because the roses are in a separate bed, they can get more water and fertilizer, which they require.) In recent years, garden designer Stephen Johns has replaced roses that haven’t done well and added new perennials such as campanulas, iris and lychnis, whose gray foliage makes a nice foil for all the greens.

Johns says the bed is “fortified” with several outstanding roses. Among them are the classic hybrid teas Oklahoma and Mr. Lincoln (two dark reds), Honor and Pascali (both whites), Oregold (a strong yellow) and Touch of Class (a pink). The two best, and most noticeable from the street, are Joseph’s Coat, a flaming red, orange and yellow blend, and Climbing Double Delight, an equally bright pink and red blend.

Roses and perennials aren’t a traditional garden pairing, but now they aren’t strange bedfellows either.