April showers bring May flowers, and for Rose City, they bring… you guessed it: roses. These roses bring in thousands of visitors from across the country coming to look at the historical Portland Rose Garden, the heart of springtime in the Pacific Northwest.
The end of winter in Portland is indicated by hundreds of varieties of roses blooming and painting the city in romantic reds, pretty pinks and cheerful yellows. In fact, Portland is so rosy that it’s earned the nickname “The City of Roses.” While you can find numerous colorful gardens throughout parks and street corners in the city, nothing comes close to the notorious Portland Rose Garden, also known as the International Rose Test Garden.
The Portland Rose Garden is one of the largest rose gardens in the United States. It is home to over 10,000 rose bushes of approximately 650 varieties, including roses from countries around the world. But beneath over a century of colorful blooms lie the hearty roots of history.
During World War I, European florists, naturalists and rose fanatics alike worried that the bombings ridling the continent would destroy exotic species of roses, leading to their extinction.
By the 20th century, Portland was already notorious for its rose population. Its nickname, “The City of Roses,” dates back to 1888, even before the Portland Rose Garden was established. Portland’s hospitable climate, similar to that of England, makes the city a perfect environment for roses. Because of this, rose specialists in England took a liking to Portland and asked if they could send their roses there as a haven.
In 1915, Jesse Currey, President of the Portland Rose Society and editor for The Oregon Journal, petitioned for city officials to institute an international rose garden, and the Park Bureau approved this petition in 1917. In 1918, America’s first International Rose Test Garden was officially opened, receiving its first roses from England, Ireland and, closer to home, Los Angeles.
Today, the Portland Rose Garden covers four and a half acres of land with crisp rosy blooms from countries all over the world. According to Oregon Live, the Portland Rose Garden typically receives over 2,000 roses each year for its 700,000 annual visitors to see.
The Portland Rose Garden is open seven days a week, from 5 a.m.-10 p.m. Admission is free – so what are you waiting for? Take a stroll through the history of Portland, and smell the beautiful blooms in the process.
