![Red Rose at Intl Test Garden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Red_Rose_at_Intl_Test_Garden.JPG)
The city of
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
is ideal for growing
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
s outdoors due to its location within the
marine west coast
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
region, its warm, dry summers and rainy but mild winters, and its heavy clay soils.
Portland has been known as the City of Roses, or Rose City, since 1888, after ''Madame Caroline Testout'', a large pink variety of
hybrid tea rose
Hybrid tea is an informal horticultural classification for a group of garden roses. The first hybrid tea roses were created in France in the mid-1800s, by cross-breeding the large, floriferous Hybrid Perpetuals with the tall, elegant Tea roses. ...
bred in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, was introduced to the city. Thousands of rose bushes were planted, eventually lining of Portland's streets in preparation for the
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide exposition held in Portlan ...
in 1905.
[
The Rose City Park neighborhood in northeast Portland was formed in 1907, the same year of the first annual ]Portland Rose Festival
The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region. It inclu ...
. During World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, nursery owners in Portland began planning a large rose garden to protect European rose species from the war. The garden was established in Washington Park as the International Rose Test Garden
The International Rose Test Garden is a rose garden in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon, United States. There are over 10,000 rose bushes of approximately 650 varieties. The roses bloom from April through October with the peak coming in Ju ...
in 1917. Today, the Portland Rose Festival takes place each June with a carnival, parades, and navy ships docked along the Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 19 ...
to promote the city. The International Rose Test Garden is currently one of the oldest public rose test gardens in the United States, covering with over 8,000 rose plants, and more than 550 different species. In 2003, Portland adopted the " City of Roses" as its official nickname.
History
In 1888, Georgiana Burton Pittock, the wife of Oregon newspaper publisher and business tycoon Henry Pittock, invited friends and neighbors to display their roses in a tent set up in her garden in the area now known as Pittock Block. In 1889, lawyer and civic leader Frederick Van Voorhies Holman helped found the Portland Rose Society. The rose cultivar ''Mme. Caroline Testout'', a hybrid tea rose
Hybrid tea is an informal horticultural classification for a group of garden roses. The first hybrid tea roses were created in France in the mid-1800s, by cross-breeding the large, floriferous Hybrid Perpetuals with the tall, elegant Tea roses. ...
variety named after a French dressmaker, was introduced by French rosarian Joseph Pernet-Ducher in 1890. The cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
gained popularity, and by 1905 Portland had of rose-bordered streets, with about half-a-million rose bushes planted, attracting visitors to the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide exposition held in Portlan ...
.[
In 1915, rose hobbyist and '']Oregon Journal
''The Oregon Journal'' was Portland, Oregon's daily afternoon newspaper from 1902 to 1982. The ''Journal'' was founded in Portland by C. S. "Sam" Jackson, publisher of Pendleton, Oregon's ''East Oregonian'' newspaper, after a group of Portlander ...
'' editor Jesse Currey convinced city officials to establish a rose test garden to protect hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
roses grown in Europe during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Portland's Park Bureau approved the idea in 1917, allowing rose enthusiasts in England to send roses to Portland for preservation. City landscape architect Florence Holmes Gerke began designing the International Rose Test Garden
The International Rose Test Garden is a rose garden in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon, United States. There are over 10,000 rose bushes of approximately 650 varieties. The roses bloom from April through October with the peak coming in Ju ...
and accompanying amphitheatre in 1921. The garden was dedicated in June 1924 with Currey as the first curator. He served until his death in 1927. A stone bench in the garden honors Currey's work as founder.[
]
City of Roses
The official and most common nickname for Portland is the " City of Roses", or " Rose City". According to Charles Paul Keyser, Portland Parks Superintendent from 1917 to 1950, the first known reference to Portland as "The City of Roses" was made by visitors at an Episcopal Church convention in 1888.[ The city's first annual rose show was held the following year, and by 1904, the Portland Rose Society began sponsoring fiestas to accompany the shows. The nickname grew in popularity after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, when ]mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
Harry Lane
Harry Lane (August 28, 1855 – May 23, 1917) was an American politician in the state of Oregon. A physician by training, Lane served as the head of the Oregon State Insane Asylum before being forced out by political enemies. After a decade prac ...
suggested that the city needed a "festival of roses". The first Portland Rose Festival
The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region. It inclu ...
was held two years later and remains the city's major annual festival a century later. The Portland Rose Society, which offers educational programs on "rose culture" and advocates the use of roses in the landscape, remains in operation today.
In Portland, the nickname is often attributed to Leo Samuel, who founded the Oregon Life Insurance Company in 1906 (known today as Standard Insurance Company). Samuel grew roses outside his home and placed a pair of shears outside his garden, so people could snip a rose from his garden to take for themselves.
On June 18, 2003, the city council unanimously approved a resolution adopting "the City of Roses" as the city's official nickname.[
]
Gardens
Many rose garden
A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses, and sometimes rose species. Most often it is a section of a larger garden. Designs vary tremendously and roses m ...
s are found throughout Portland, the most prominent of which is the International Rose Test Garden. Peninsula Park became the city's first public rose garden in 1909 when it was purchased for $60,000 ($ in ) with funds raised in a 1908 bond measure. Designed by Emanuel L. Mische, the garden contains 8,900 plantings featuring 65 rose varieties. ''Mme. Caroline Testout'', the official rose of Portland, was grown at Peninsula Park. In 1913, the park was chosen as the location for an annual rose show, where it remained until Washington Park was selected as the location of the International Rose Test Garden in 1917.[ The park remains a popular Portland tourist destination, with more than 9,500 rose bushes representing over 600 varieties.]
The Ladd's Addition
Ladd's Addition is an inner southeast historic district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is Portland's oldest planned residential development, and one of the oldest in the western United States. The district is known in Portland for a diago ...
neighborhood contains four diamond-shaped rose gardens originally designed by William Sargent Ladd in the 1890s. Emanuel Mische designed landscaped areas in the park in 1909. Mische planted roses in the diamond gardens giving it a "stained glass effect". The park was acquired by Portland Parks & Recreation
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is a Bureau of the City of Portland, Oregon that manages the city parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails. The properties, which occupy a total of more than . The bureau employs a total ...
in 1981 and currently features 3,000 roses representing sixty varieties that were popular in the early 20th century.
Other rose gardens surrounding the Portland metropolitan area include Esther Short Park
Esther Short Park is a public park and town square located in downtown Vancouver, Washington. Established in 1853, it is the oldest public park in the state of Washington. and one of the oldest public parks in the West.
It is located in the city's ...
in Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
, Avery Park Rose Garden in Corvallis, Owen Rose Garden in Eugene, and Heirloom Roses in St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
.[
]
Events
The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June. Events, including multiple parades, a carnival, fleet week, and the crowning of a queen,[ are organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region. Coinciding with the festival is the Annual Spring Rose Show, considered to be one of the largest and longest-running in the nation. The Portland's Best Rose event, sponsored by the Portland Rose Society, began in 1996. The competition includes 100 judges ranking varieties in a blind contest.] One day prior to the competition, the public is invited to vote for the People's Choice award recipient.[
]
Local namesakes
Rose City Park is a neighborhood and park in northeast Portland. The neighborhood formed in 1907, the year of the first Portland Rose Festival. The headquarters of the rose festival are at the Visitors Information Center, also known as the Rose Building. The building was designed by architect John Yeon
John Yeon (October 29, 1910 – March 13, 1994) was an American architect in Portland, Oregon, in the mid-twentieth century. He is regarded as one of the early practitioners of the Northwest Regional style of Modernism. Largely self-taught, ...
in 1948 and served as a chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
office and visitor center
A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors.
Types of visitor center
A visit ...
, city offices, and a restaurant, as well as the rose festival's headquarters. Located along Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 19 ...
, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2010 and features a rose garden and neon rose sign. Other namesakes include murals depicting roses painted on sides of buildings in Portland, and the private company Rose City Transit
The Rose City Transit Company (RCT, or RCTC) was a Privately held company, private company that operated most Public transport bus service, mass transit service in the city of Portland, Oregon, from 1956 to 1969. It operated only within the city ...
, which provided most mass transit service in Portland from 1956 to 1969.
Roses have long been associated with sports in Portland. The Moda Center
Moda Center, formerly known as the Rose Garden, is the primary indoor sports arena in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is used for basketball, ice hockey, rodeos, circuses, conventions, ice shows, concerts, and dramatic productions. The arena h ...
, known as the Rose Garden for many years, is an indoor sports arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances, or Sport, sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating f ...
in the Rose Quarter
The Rose Quarter is a sports and entertainment district located in Portland's Lloyd District on the east bank of the Willamette River, just east of downtown. The Rose Quarter is bounded on the west by NE Interstate Avenue, on the north by NE Broa ...
, a sports and entertainment center in the Lloyd District
The Lloyd District is a primarily commercial neighborhood in the North and Northeast sections of Portland, Oregon. It is named after Ralph Lloyd (1875–1953), a California rancher, oilman, and real estate developer who moved to and started ...
neighborhood. The venue was one of the last National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) facilities to have its naming rights
Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...
sold. In addition, three professional sports teams were named the Portland Rosebuds during the first half of the 20th century; they were two professional men's ice hockey teams that played home games at the Portland Ice Arena and one Negro league
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...
baseball team
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...
in the West Coast Baseball Association that was also known as the "Portland Roses". The first hockey team played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association
The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was a professional ice hockey league in western Canada and the western United States, which operated from 1911 to 1924 when it then merged with the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). The PCHA was cons ...
from 1914
This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...
–1918. During the 1915–1916 season the Rosebuds became the first American team to participate in the Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
finals
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
.[ The second hockey team played in the ]Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...
's fifth and final season ( 1925–1926).[ Other teams have incorporated the "Rose City" nickname into their brand. The ]Rose City Rollers
The Rose City Rollers is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Portland, Oregon, operating as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Established in 2004, the Ro ...
, an all-female roller derby
Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States.
Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...
league within the Women's Flat Track Derby Association
The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...
, was established in 2004 and supports four local teams and two traveling teams. The Rollers support a junior league known as the Rosebuds. Two women's professional football teams have been named the Rose City Wildcats, the first formed for the 2001 season of the Women's American Football League and the second for the 2011 season of the Women's Spring Football League
The United States Women's Football League (USWFL) is a full-contact women's American football minor league that opened with exhibition play in 2010 and subsequently played its first regular season in 2011.https://www.uswfl.net/copy-of-schedule- ...
. A women's soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
team named the Portland Thorns FC
The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...
was formed in 2012 by the Portland Timbers and have played in the National Women's Soccer League
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...
since 2013.
See also
* Portland Japanese Garden
The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site f ...
, another garden within Washington Park
* Rose trial grounds
Rose trial grounds or rose test gardens are agricultural areas where garden roses are grown to be assessed for qualities such as health, floriferousness, novelty, and scent.
Roses on trial are usually considered for awards of merit or medals at ...
* Royal Rosarians
The Royal Rosarians are the "official greeters and ambassadors" of Portland, Oregon. The group was founded in 1912; members are most visible during the Portland Rose Festival
The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the ...
References
Further reading
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{{Good Article
Culture of Portland, Oregon
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition