Rose Festival

Grand Floral Parade, 2013

Since it is Rose Festival week here in our corner of Oregon, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the humble wild roses that make it all possible! Our local festival has a rich history of formal and informal events, since the first one in 1907. Among the events: two big parades, a queen and princesses, dragon boat races, a treasure hunt, and a massive rose flower show with participants from all over the country. Portland is also home of a notable rose test garden, located in Washington Park. The 4.5 acre garden is a top destination for summer visitors to the city.

Any town worth its salt has a rose garden!

Wild roses, as discovered in fossil form, date back some 70 million years, so they are definitely survivors. Those were simple plants with basic flowers, thorns, and the ability to thrive in marginal conditions. Interestingly, roses grow only in the Northern hemisphere and fossil evidence show roses growing in the U.S. some 35 million years ago near Canyon City, CO. Those fossils closely resemble our wild Nootka Rose and the Swamp Rose.

The genus Rosa has about 150 species throughout the Northern hemisphere. Here in Oregon there are just a few of the wild ones you may come across in the natural world: Nootka rose (Rosa Nutkana, Baldhip rose (R. gymnocarpa), Clustered Wild rose (R. pisocarpa), Wood's rose (R. Woodsii), and the non-native Dog rose (R.canina). All of these grow in our area, except the Wood's rose, which lives east of the Cascades. They are tricky to identify, in part because they can naturally hybridize with each other.

Garden cultivation of roses probably began in China, about 5,000 years ago. Later, the Romans grew and used roses extensively for perfume, a confetti of sorts, and for medicinal uses. However, it was not until the late 1700's that roses from China arrived in Europe. These roses had a gene that made them bloom all year as opposed to once a year. They also had more colors than the existing European ones. Garden hybridizers began to experiment with the Chinese roses at this time and most of our current day garden rose heritage can be traced back to these Chinese-European hybrids. Currently, there are over 30,000 different garden roses available for your backyard gardening pleasure!

Hybrid rose development and sales is now a big business all over the world. It is unclear why roses are so popular with humans. Perhaps, as one source put it, roses are all things to all people. For example, red roses are romantic, while white roses can be at home in a wedding or a funeral. Roses seem to be embedded in past cultures as well as current ones, as we see with our own Rose Festival.

Countless poems, paintings, and songs have rose themes and it is still a popular girls name. This Emily Dickinson poem seems relevant:

A sepal, petal, and a thorn
Upon a common summer's morn
A flask of Dew - A Bee or two
A Breeze - a caper in the trees
And I'm a Rose!

Baldhip Wild Rose

Botanists believe that roses have thorns, so as to keep wildlife at bay, thereby protecting the spread of these shrubs. In our own rose garden at home, this does not seem to work, as the local deer love to eat the buds, before they open! We have tried many remedies for this but if you have one that really works, and is not toxic, let us know!

Meanwhile, enjoy the simple beauty of our wild roses on your next walk, or admire the science and refinement of the cultivated ones in local gardens, and take in a festival event if you can!


Portland Rose Festival website

Portland Rose Test Garden info