A rose by any other name is still... a rose.

I’ve never been much of a fan of roses. Probably because they either come from a boyfriend who in the end turns out to be an ass, or from a friend as a bouquet of condolences – meaning something bad has happened. Now don’t get me wrong, they’re beautiful and brighten your day and the thought behind them is extraordinary, but they leave a bad taste behind when they die. So it’s kind of ironic I moved to Portland, the city of roses.

And Portland likes its roses. You know those ugly manhole covers you see on the streets? Yeah, well, Portland’s all have roses on them. And in June they have the Portland Rose Festival – a ten day event that celebrates roses. (I’m amazed you can fill ten days worth of activities that center on roses.) So, I thought it only appropriate that I visit the International Rose Test Garden, located – you guessed it – in Portland. Why wouldn’t Portland be the INTERNATIONAL place to test roses? Makes perfect sense to me, what, with all the other unique titles Portland holds.

The Rose Garden is located in Washington Park, and last Saturday, Jeremy, my new friend Ben, and I went. Washington Park is also home for the Japanese Gardens, but Jeremy was feeling frugal and didn’t want to pay the $8 to get in, so we settled on the free rose garden. After visiting, we understand why it was free: you REALLY have to love roses to like the place.

Now don’t get my wrong, it was beautiful, and serene, and had an awesome view of Portland and Mt. Hood, but it wasn’t very exciting. I guess, what did I expect though, it’s a rose garden. Plus, I’ve been spoiled by Multnomah Falls and Cannon Beach already. Maybe I should have gone to the Rose Garden first…

Anyways, we walked through the rows and rows of roses. And I stopped to look closely at some roses (much to the boys’ boredom) because they were pretty. But the highlight of the rose garden was this: we saw an older couple walking a cat on a leash. We all three watched in what can only be shock and horror. That poor cat. Then the man proceeded to pick up his cat and put it in a stroller. Wow. Jeremy’s reaction: “I think this will be the first documented case of a cat suicide.”

I unfortunately did not get a picture of the suicidal cat, but I did take some photos of the rose garden. You can look at them here.

And the garden actually does have a cool history behind it – hybridists sent flowers to Portland to keep them safe from the World War I bombings that were ravaging Europe. To learn more, click here.

But after visiting the garden, the statement holds true: A rose by any other name is still... a rose.