Touch Grass: International Rose Test Garden

Photo Credit: Adrian Keller Feld

One of Portland’s most well-known gardens is the International Rose Test Garden, located in Washington Park within viewing distance of the famous Japanese Garden (covered in the October 6, 2023 issue of the Quest). However, unlike the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden is free to enter. With the roses in bloom from around May through October, there is still a bit of time this year to see the garden in its colors! More than “10,000 individual rose bushes bloom” in the garden, according to its section on the Portland.gov site, and most are commercially available. According to the same website, the “primary purpose of the Garden is to serve as a testing ground for new rose varieties. In the beginning, while World War I was raging, hybridists sent roses from around the world to Portland’s garden for testing.” It is in fact “the oldest, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States,” having been established in 1917, per the Portland Parks Foundation website. 

The International Rose Test Garden was “conceived by Oregon Journal editor Jesse A. Currey in 1915,” and “Flowers began arriving in Portland in 1918,” per Travel Portland. The garden is separated into “several smaller areas: the Royal Rosarian Garden, the Shakespeare Garden and the Miniature Rose Garden.” These sections were not all present at the garden's founding, but have instead been added on throughout the years, growing the garden to cover 6.9 acres. The garden has a tiered structure, and sits above the city with a view down upon it, and out to Mount Hood when the skies are clear. There are plenty of benches throughout the garden, and as admission is free, it is a great spot to come in the middle of a long day, to take lunch in a quiet and colorful part of the city. With hundreds of varieties of roses, the colors spread across the garden are vast, warming up the space even on a rainy day.

Open from 5:00am–10:00pm daily, except for some Wednesdays between May and August, the International Rose Test Garden is an easy spot to work into a larger trip. The Rose Garden is especially great if one is already planning to visit the Japanese Garden or other areas in Washington Park, because it is a free addition in which one can spend as much or as little time as they like. While just a 20-minute drive from Reed, the garden is a bit tricky to get to using public transit, as it would take over an hour, and the final 15 minutes are a hilly walk. But when living in the Rose City, it seems only right to take a look at its rose garden at some point. To learn more visit the garden’s section on the Portland gov.website. So, go out and touch grass at the International Rose Test Garden!