Portland Rose Garden visit

16 years ago

I've managed to get to all three of the different gardens comprising the Portland Rose Garden. Today I finally made it to the main garden in Washington Park. Although it's a little past peak, I saw a ton of gorgeous roses. Did not try to take any pictures (and it was midday, lousy light), but I did make some notes of things that wowed me and may go onto my ongoing list.

*Granada -- It's already on my list, but I have GOT to get this.

*Ebb Tide -- really looked good, still lots of flowers.

*Miss All American Beauty. Love the color and huge flowers.

*Peter Mayle -- wow, color, size, SCENT! I hear people are driven crazy by it but I can see why you would bang your head against a wall for its sake.

*Black Baccara -- like everyone else, am wowed by the color.

*Royal Amethyst -- what a scent.

*Voodoo -- tons of flowers and such an interesting color.

*Fame, Strike It Rich, Jean Giono and Rouge Royale all impressed me favorably.

*A non-in-commerce rose called Funkuhr was really cool and I'll be keeping my eyes out for it. The coloring is unusual and rather flamboyant.

One rose I saw that is coming off my list now is Centennial Star. It photographs nicely but is more blah in person.

I decided that the orange thing in my garden that I thought might be Fragrant Cloud is probably NOT Fragrant Cloud, but it could be either Tropicana or Lasting Peace.

I got to sniff both Chrysler Imperial and Mr. Lincoln. Although there were few CI's in bloom, I thought it had the superior scent -- WOW!

Someone in Oregon was asking about Moonstone in the last day or two. I thought the flowers were very pretty although the colors are not my usual preference. However it has too little scent to attract me. It seemed to be growing well and moderately floriferous.

I started scribbling numbers of test roses that I thought were fabulous and then gave up because there were too many!

I found I did not care so much for some of the novelty colors as I thought I would; I did not love Distant Drums and downright disliked Honey Dijon (No offense to those who adore them!). I also realized that I really cannot stand the color of Queen Elizabeth, and it is EVERYWHERE around here.

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Comments (6)

sammy zone 7 Tulsa
16 years ago
Chrysler Imperial has a wonderful fragrance (at least to me). I have bought many Queen Elizabeths through the years, and also do not care for the color. I also do not care for the growing style. It grows so high, then I am told by those who love it, that you must cut it way back for it to rebloom well.

I just saw Granada this past year, and thought it was beautiful. I could not find it, but bought two Rainbow Sorbet that I thought were similar.

My husband just loves Voodoo. We do love Distant Drums, but it is an unusual color. I put Honey Dijon beside Hot Cocoa, and it looked ok, but I do not really care for it.

You are fortunate to live near or in Portland where you can visit those gardens.

Sammy
stephanotis_1
16 years ago
I'm from Portland and currently live in AZ. I grew up going to those rose gardens, and have missed them terribly since moving here. We will be visiting at the end of August, and I told my hubby that one of our first stops will be the rose gardens, along with the zoo and the Portland Spirit boat ride. At the same time I will be getting lots and lots of cuttings from my mom's very old rose garden, to bring back here to try and root.
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bellarose
16 years ago
What an interesting post. I'm glad to hear about Centennial Star as I was considering getting it! I convinced my husband to pay a visit to Hungtington Library soon to look at all their roses for the same reason.
nickelsmumz8
Original Author
16 years ago
Bellarose, for all I know, you might like Centennial Star. It's pretty enough, but to me just looks like another Peace knockoff. In some pictures, the petal edge pattern is wonderfully starrily geometric, but that didn't come through in person.

It was blooming nicely, lots of blossoms, but if I hadn't had my eye on it, I don't think I would have looked twice.

Please post after you visit the Huntington!

Steph, I don't think I could do Arizona. It's just too dry. I lived in LA for three years and that was that. I like mist, fog, etc! I am glad you get a chance to visit your old (and my new) stomping grounds. I LOVE Portland and know I made a good choice when it was time for me to relocate.
stephanotis_1
16 years ago
It's weird what you end up getting used to though. I grew up in the rain and then moved to AZ for 2 years, and absolutely hated the heat and the seemingly endless sunny days. I moved back to Portland for the following 2 years, and found that I couldn't take the endless rain anymore. Now I am back in AZ, definitely suffering a bit in the 116 weather, but I now really like it (not love it, but like it) more than I did before. I guess I got used to it after all. And we do have seasons, contrary to popular belief, even though there isn't snow where we are, there are still freezing temps. The long growing season makes up for the inconvenience of a few burnt roses.
nastarana
16 years ago
I visited the Portland Rose Garden in Washington Park in June. What I found most impressive were wome cultivars which are not well known, Shadow Dancer--when is this amazing climber going to be in commerce?--, Lordly Oberon, and an HT called Amilia. The Clements roses I saw on display were not at all impressive. Maybe they need lots of TLC. I tend to like roses that can fend for themselves, given sun and water and some fertilizing.