I ran across this guide to companion planting and thought it might be of interest to someone.

COMPANION PLANTING
HERBAL PLANTING FOR THE ORGANIC GARDENER

Basil. Planting with tomatoes will improve growth and flavor and will
repel
flies and mosquitoes. Do not plant near Rue.

Bay Leaf. A fresh bay leaf in the containers of beans or grains will
deter
Weevils or moths.

Bee Balm. Also recommended for planting with tomatoes to improve growth
and
flavor.

Borage. Tomatoes, squash and strawberries are the companion plants.
Deters
tomato worms.

Caraway. Good for softening compacted soil.

Catnip. Deters flea beetles.

Chamomile. Heightens flavor of cabbage and onions.

Chervil. Companion to radishes for better flavor and growth.

Dill. Bolsters growth and health of cabbage. Do not plant near carrots
or
fennel.

Garlic. Place near roses and other plants to repel aphids.

Hyssop. Companion plant to grapes and cabbage (deters cabbage moths.
Plant
away from radishes.

Lovage. Improves the flavor and health of most plants.

Marjoram. Will produce better flavor in all vegetables.

Mint. White cabbage moths are repelled while improving the health of
cabbage
and tomatoes.

Peppermint. Companion plant to cabbage, beans, carrots and sage.
Deterrent
to carrot flies, beetles and cabbage moths.

Rue. Keeps Japanese beetles out of roses and raspberries.

Sage. Companion plant to rosemary, cabbage and carrots. Will deter
carrot
flies, beetles and cabbage moths. Plant away from cucumbers.

Summer Savory. Plant with onions and beans for improved health and
flavor.
Discourages cabbage moths.

Tansy. Plant with fruit trees, roses and raspberries. Acts as a
deterrent to
flying insects, Japanese beetles striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs
and
ants.

Thyme. Deterrent to cabbage worms.

Wormwood. Planted around the border of the garden, it acts to keep
animals
out.

I have to say that I tried planting garlic around our rosa rugosa, and the rose had aphids galore.

Tansy is horribly invasive. We bought our tansy at a local nursery. I can't believe they had it in with the perennials & sold it to unsuspecting gardeners with no warning about its invasive qualities. I love its aromatic leaves, but I have it growing inside a 2-foot root barrier. However, last year I forgot to remove the blooms. I hope I won't see seedlings sprouting all over.

That's a good point Sus, there are quite a lot of invasives in there.
I tried the garlic around the roses too without any luck, but they sure do seem to keep burrowing bugs away from the native willow.

Did your source give author credits Caro? I know there are a lot of books out there on the subject.

No source named or I would have included it. Its fairly general knowledge.

Patricia Cowan says it takes several years for the garlic to establish in the rose garden to the point of working. She recommends garlic chives for the rose garden. If I have a problem with aphids (which I don't at this place), I add garlic tea to my foliar feed, and that usually takes care of it.

I love the fern like quality of tansy. At another house, I had it on the west side where it got tremendous heat and sun, but looked nice despite it. Of course, with the climate in your area, Susan, I can easily understand how some plants would be much more invasive than they are here (under normal weather conditions....thought I'd add that since we are having "Seattle" weather ).

I love my tansy but it hasn't spread much at all. Probably difference in soil and climate. I also have great success with society garlic around my roses.

Carolyn, I'm definitely going to try garlic tea on our rosa rugosa. Aphids love it, and the plant is so thorny that I can't squish the aphids with my fingers, the way I do on our other roses.

It's interesting that you Texans don't have a problem with tansy. In the first couple of years tansy seemed amenable to control in our garden. In the third year I noticed sprouting plants more than two feet from the mother plant. When I dug around with the trowel, I found an immense network of underground roots. I dug up an area roughly 3 feet square and screened the dirt to get rid of the roots. Layer upon layer of roots!

Gail, What is society garlic? Culinary garlics that I've seen here are ordinary (unnamed) garlic, roja garlic (spicy), and elephant garlic (very large cloves).

The garlic I planted around our rosa rugosa was roja garlic. That's the kind we like to use for cooking.

I use the flowers in salads. Haven't tried the foliage. It's very pungent -- what a surprise. Susan, if you'll email your address to me, I'll package and send you some. It has lovely purple flowers. Will bloom for me in partial shade too. It only gets about a foot and a half for me but the flowers stand taller on their shoots.

Tulbaghia violacea - I LOVE those icy-lavender-colored blooms! Made an image of them once - wish it was on this puter right now, for easy posting. And the variegated foliage one is esp ornamental.

But what a stinker Maggie, I hate garlic and that one is far worse.

Although I have always planted Lamb's Ear among my roses, yesterday I learned why it was a good idea. According to Lucy Harrell, the Lamb's Ear acts as a trap plant for a thrip predator. It makes sense. I had no experience with thrips until we moved to this place, and a couple of roses on the opposite side of the house (where there is no Lamb's Ear) from the rose bed (where there are several Lamb's Ear)had these chewed up and icky looking blooms, which I finally figured out was caused by thrips.

Project for the day: divide a large Lamb's Ear and plant near lone roses.

And here is that very stinker Tulbaghia violacea, see Maggie, I can take a hint.

I didn't know you grew it Terry :-0 Now just look at how the neon forum banner pales, compared to that bloom! You don't like garlic? No wonder you don't travel the Continent!

I have never had thrips on any of the roses here Caro, but they sure do love my daylilies - near stachys or not ... in this garden.

Really? On daylilies? I've never had anything at all attack the daylilies.

A note on my mystery rose if anyone is interested. Its loaded with buds. Hopefully, I will get around to replacing my dearly departed digi cam before it blooms. We have also tied the canes to the wall so its not blowing around in this wind. Has lots of leaves. Actually, looks almost like a healthy rose. Hmmm. I used Lucy's rose drench recipe twice earlier this spring, as well as digging in good new soil around the base of the plant.

Caro, since you have the experience, wanna volunteer to come help me train up my rose that has gotten out of control??? I've been meaning to do it for 2 months and now it's draping over the lawn and the thorns are just daring me to tie it up!

We set screws into the mortar of the house, and before putting them in all the way, wrapped some of that plant tying up twisty stuff to them. Then, tied the canes where we wanted them. Terry suggested eye hooks, which would have worked the same. Terry also suggested to gradually pull back towards the house the canes that were going in totally the wrong direction so as to avoid breaking them. He was right about that. I've already got the renegades almost to the brick.

Now, the roses in the rose bed have huge arching canes, but they have plenty of room to do their thing.

If you are coming out the end of the month with the garden club, you can see for yourself.