Portland is “The Rose City” and all we needed to find out why was to take a day trip to the Portland International Rose Test Garden.
I came, I saw, and I was conquered by this rosarian heaven. I came out of the place with a sensory overload, in a good way.
At first, I tried to check out the name and to smell each rose variety, but after the nth time of repeating the giddying process, I finally gave up and simply glanced at the thousands of roses as I passed them by in my now hurried walk around the test garden.
A rose is a rose by any name, I suppose. But as a gardener myself, such is not true since the over 8,000 roses cultivated here could be different from one another. But when I get sensory overload, it means there are simply too many and too much of a good thing, in this case, of roses. Not just beds of roses, but literally acreage of roses.
When in bloom (or even when just in bud), the roses are simply truly beautiful. They’re such an eye candy and a natural perfume factory.
The Portland Rose Garden, I notice, is actually subdivided into four gardens:
the International Rose Test Garden,
the Miniature Rose Test Garden,
the Shakespearean Garden,
and the Royal Rosarian Garden.
The INTERNATIONAL ROSE TEST GARDEN
International Rose Test Garden in Portland
This is the main area - and clearly the most popular - of the Portland Rose Garden, and is one of 24 testing sites for the All-American Rose Selections (AARS). Here the roses are tested for their flowers, scent, colors, leaves, ability to withstand pests and diseases, repeat bloom, aging quality, and novelty. Each year outstanding roses are adjudged and given AARS status (meaning that rose is the best of its type for that year). AARS Status is awarded to:
Knock Out Rose, 2000 AARS Best Shrub Rose (We're lucky to have this in our home garden)
the best grandiflora rose (very tall type of rose, with blooms that appear in clusters rather than individually on the stems);
best hybrid rose (most popular and features large ornate blooms with 30 to 50 petals, budding off of long stems; this usually is what you give or receive on Valentine's Day or other special occasions);
best floribunda rose (bears its flowers in large clusters, and blooms continuously, whereas hybrid teas and grandifloras tend to bloom in six- to seven-week cycles);
best shrub rose (sprawling growth habit, growing from 5 to 15 feet in all directions);
best climbing rose (roses from any class that are characterized by long, arching canes that can be trained onto fences, trellises, arbors and pergolas);
best miniature rose (shorter, more compact form of hybrid tea or grandiflora rose with flowers that are equally compact, usually growing to no more than 15 to 30 inches; the type of rose you'd want on your patio or deck);
and best landscape rose ( short, up to 3 feet, but spreads much wider; you see this type planted on boulevards and street dividers).
So the next time you buy a rose, check if it has the AARS Status – and you’ll get yourself already a winner!
MINIATURE ROSE TEST GARDEN
The Test Garden for miniature roses
The Miniature Rose Test Garden is one of only six testing sites for miniature roses in the U.S.A. The winning roses of national competitions are showcased in the middle of the garden.
Miniature Roses are perfection in beauty though obviously small in size. They bloom profusely so they don't fail to captivate. They're just great for containers, balconies and borders and where spaces are small but need long-lasting bloomers to earn their premium space.
Rosa Scentimental, Sun Sprinkles (2001 winner), and Bees Knees, some of the miniature AARS winners
SHAKESPEARE GARDEN
In this smallish garden you’ll find flowers, trees and herbs mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays, as well as roses named after characters in those plays. Maybe you don’t really have to read Shakespearean plays, just visit the Shakespeare Garden. Hope this short-cut works.
ROYAL ROSARIAN GARDEN
The Royal Rosarian Garden features roses named after all past Prime Ministers of the Royal Rosarians, a group that serves as the official goodwill ambassadors and greeters of the City of Portland. The rosarians are knighted and get to pick a rose as their namesake. This small garden is home to several roses that aren’t commercially available anymore.
After our walking tour, we took the tram ride to see the rest of the gardens, through the forested areas, the wild, less cultivated sections of the gardens and Washington Park. And after we got off the tram train, we headed uphill -- to another kind of garden, the Portland Japanese Garden.
Just within Portland's famed Washington Park alone, you can enjoy two gardens (the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden) which are considered the best of their kinds in the United States. Portland offers you a garden that is sure to give you sensory overload (sending your senses of sight and smell on overdrive) in the Portland Rose Garden; or, a garden that promotes tranquility and meditative rejuvenation in the Portland Japanese Garden. Pick your choice. We have chosen BOTH, and never regretted. And so can you; it always pays to smell the roses when you can.
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