We visited the International Rose Test Garden in Portland’s Washington Park, a delightful place in the hills overlooking the city. Many plants were past their peak, and it might have been better if we had visited last weekend, but still, the array and variety of flowers were breathtaking. I couldn’t pick just a few favorites, so this will be a relatively short (I think) sub-gallery of some of the beautiful roses that caught my eye (or nose!).

Wiki says: “The International Rose Test Garden is a rose garden in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon. There are over 7,000 rose plants of approximately 550 varieties. The roses bloom from April through October with the peak coming in June, depending on the weather. New rose cultivars are continually sent to the garden from many parts of the world and are tested for color, fragrance, disease resistance and other attributes. It is the oldest continuously operating public rose test garden in the United States and exemplifies Portland's nickname, 'City of Roses’."

I was particularly taken with the many hybrid tea roses, which seemed to develop more attractive color the older they got.

Lavender, posted earlier: