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Antique Roses Roses

Is anything blooming at the Portland International Rose Garden now?

nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska

5 years ago

Hi Folks

I'll be in Portland for work and I'm trying to leave some time in the late afternoon to stop by the international rose gardens, even though I know June is really prime time. I saw online that there have been some scattered blooms in early April and even late March one year, so I thought I'd check to see if there's any chance I'll see any roses at all blooming. I'm still headed out there just to see the bush forms and check out what they grow, but of course a rose garden is more fun with flowers. Not a great chance, but I figured you'd all be the ones to tell me.

Cynthia

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User

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

90 miles south of PDX, things are later than usual, so I don’t expect to see first blooms for at least 4 weeks. I expect the PDX garden is in a similar state.

When last I was at the rose garden, the OGRs were barely represented at all, and most all of them were conspicuously virused with a particularly nasty variant of Mosaic.

The Portland International Test Garden is exactly that: a public trial garden, whose agenda is to present an ever-changing snapshot of the newest hopefuls the industry churns out. Take a look at their official brochure: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewFile&PolPdfsID=1922&/PPR%20IRTG%202019%20Brochure%20-%20ENGLISH.pdf

The garden map doesn’t even mention OGRs.

The Owen Rose Garden in Eugene, OR (approx 130 miles south of PDX) has a much more diverse collection and OGRs are well represented there. Still, that garden won’t be in bloom till mid-to-late May.

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Comments (8)

R pnwz8a
5 years ago
I don’t think so..but Portland people will confirm
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nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska thanked R pnwz8a
Stephanie, 9b inland SoCal
5 years ago
I was at Descanso Gardens near Pasadena California and only a handful of blooms on hundreds of bushes. The exception was Lady Banks in full bloom. I doubt any roses in Oregon since they are much further North.
nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska thanked Stephanie, 9b inland SoCal
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K S 7b Little Rock (formerly of Seattle)
5 years ago
Portland is south of us, so will bloom earlier -- but here in Seattle my roses are setting small buds, and still quite a ways from blooming. I'm guessing that Portland will be just a smidgeon ahead of us.
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nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska thanked K S 7b Little Rock (formerly of Seattle)
nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the input everyone. It's kind of what I figured, but I'll still plan on dropping by the gardens to see what they grow, particularly in the antique roses sections. You know you're a rose geek when you want to visit rose gardens even without flowers!

Cynthia
R pnwz8a
5 years ago
Nippstress.. I did this exact thing 2 yrs ago.. took my family to Portland rose garden to see sticks in the ground:).. not sure about them but I was like a toddler in a candy shop ..
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nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska thanked R pnwz8a
nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the input Paul and another reason to temper my enthusiasm. Seeing bushes of modern roses that are being tested would still be interesting but less so without the OGRs. If I get out to that area with independent transportation, I'd definitely be interested in seeing the Owen Rose Garden. As it is, I only have afternoons and wherever I can get on the light rail system at that, so I think travel out of town is unlikely on this particular trip. Regardless, I'm still too early for fun rose bloom season. It's like when I was in San Jose for work a few years ago in January, one of the few months when their gardens are out of bloom.

Thanks for the input folks.

Cynthia
K S 7b Little Rock (formerly of Seattle)
5 years ago
Cynthia, you probably already know this but I'll say it just in case. There is a world-class Japanese garden in Portland (widely regarded as the best outside of Japan) as well as a small but lovely Chinese garden. Both are gardening traditions designed to provide interest in all seasons, and even in the rain (the Chinese one is a courtyard garden with plenty of covered spaces from which to view the space). You might consider visiting them instead, despite their overall lack of roses.

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