When you visit Kordes, visit Tantau as well. They are practically neighbours. In the area northwest of Hamburg you may find many rosegrowers. I don't know any rosegardens in the city but a visit to the botanical garden which you find within the urban park "Blomen un Planten" may be worth wile. There are no entrance fees. When in Hamburg you must visit the "Landungsbrücken" and make a harbour tour by boat. Enjoy your stay in Germany, I lived there for eight years.

Not far from Hamburg, near Bremen is this nursery which is also open to the public according to this..

...I've ordered from them, so they speak good English. They have a wealth of roses..

Sangerhausen would be another obvious candidate but I'm not quite sure where they are located.

I hope you enjoy your stay there...

16 Oaks

Sangerhausen has Europa-Rosarium the largest collection of roses in the world. This town is South of Hamburg but google it.

Sangerhausen is approx. 250 miles southeast of Hamburg near Leipzig.

My hotel is right next to the Planten un Blomen park, Hans!

I'm impressed at how many people here speak fluent English. My college

German isn't coming back to me the way I had hoped it would. Too many years have passed! Google has saved me with maps, gps, and translations. I will definitely plan a train trip to Sangerhausen! Thank you all for the suggestions!

Cindi, if distance is not the biggest issue, you may consider a trip to the island of Mainau. It is in the Bodensee, a big lake on the southern border with Austria and Switzerland. The island is one huge garden with thousands of roses. It is 600 miles away of Hamburg though, a days drive. Google 'Mainau' and you'll get the picture. The town of Meersburg is a nice place to stay for a couple of days and has a direct ferry connection to Mainau.

Hans, that looks wonderful, but will have to wait for another trip. I have made arrangements to see Kordes and Tantau, and I'm looking into Hermannshof in Weinheim.

The landscape styles I'm seeing here really resonate with my own informal Kansas prairie style of planting. I feel more at home here than I do in botanical gardens in the U.S.

Cindy, welcome to Europe, you may like it here.

Please show us lots of pictures if you do go!

I visited Rosarium Uetersen last year, a small (900 varieties) but neat collection of roses in a beautiful setting, founded in 1913 by Tantau, Kordes and other rose breeders in the vicinity of Uetersen, a small town near Hamburg. There are all kinds of roses there, not only by German breeders. Tantau is located in Uetersen itself and Kordes is not far away.

Deutsches Rosarium in Dortmund is the second largest rosarium in Germany and the third largest in the world, a 3 hour drive from Hamburg: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Rosarium . I have not visited it but I went twice to Sangerhausen, about the same distance from Hamburg. Trains may be quicker.

Cindi, I am so glad you have decided to visit Tantau. Please share photos and your impressions with us. Tantau carries some of my favorite roses, and I dearly wish they would sell their newer roses (except the few they do) here in the US. Your trip sounds fabulous, and I know it won't disappoint. Diane