Field Trip: International Rose Test Garden

It’s taken five years to write this post.

Five years since Joe and I first started planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest — and learning that the International Rose Test Garden is a short light rail ride away from downtown Portland, OR. Five years since we purchased our plane tickets for a May 2020 trip – and four years since the world canceled it because of COVID.

As often as we rebooked the trip over the ensuing years, we’ve had to cancel our travel plans due to, well, life – a combination of parental health issues and passings and the resulting adjustments.

All of this brings us – finally – to May 2024, when we boarded an actual plane and left the ground, as well as the heat (100 degrees the day before we left) and humidity of South Florida for the cool, refreshing air of Oregon and Washington – and some jaw-dropping in-flight views that beat any scenic overlook.

Mt. St. Helens, as seen on the flight from Seattle, WA, to Portland, OR.

The International Rose Test Garden is located in Washington Park, less than 3 miles from downtown Portland. We were able to take the Blue Line train to the park and then board a free shuttle bus to the garden. Entry to the Rose Test Garden is free, although donations are appreciated.

When Jesse A. Currey, a former president of the Portland Rose Society, first proposed the idea of a Rose Test Garden to city officials in 1917, it made perfect sense. The city, thanks to 200 miles of rose-bordered streets planted in honor of the 1905 Lewis & Clark Centennial, was already known as the “City of Roses.”

Mr. Currey and me.

With the added support of the American Rose Society, the city agreed to establish the International Rose Test Garden, with Mr. Currey as the garden’s first curator. In those early days, with World War 1 enveloping Europe, hybridists sent roses from around the world for testing.

Over its 107-year history, the Rose Test Garden has grown – pun very much intended. There are currently 10,000 individual rose bushes and more than 610 varieties. The blooming cycle runs from May to October.

While we were there in mid-May, the higher elevation of the Rose Test Garden meant we were just shy of peak bloom time. Nevertheless, the roses that were open were spectacular. (By the way, Garden volunteers do an excellent job of labeling the roses. I, however, did not with my photos. As Shakespeare never said, “A rose by whatever name still smells as sweet.”)

Rhododendrons were not to be outdone.

Today, the International Rose Test Garden is maintained by a team of volunteers, performing both gardening – seasonal pruning, shaping, and deadheading – and non-gardening – leading garden tours, record-keeping, and fundraising – tasks. In addition, the garden is one of five US testing sites for David Austin roses and is instrumental in testing potential variety introductions from rose companies.

While the cooler temperatures at the Rose Test Garden may have slowed the start of blooming, that was not the case in the warmer valley areas. There, throughout Portland and Seattle, roses and so many other flowers — old friends from my NY gardening days and new introductions — brightened up private yards, parking lots, and the edges of highways.