We spent a marvelous Mother’s Day touring our local botanical garden (mom’s got in free) and I’m not sure who had a better time the moms or the kids? When my 3-year-old daughter wasn’t trying to see which was taller—her or the tulips—she was sticking her face into every blossom and bush making sucking noises with her mouth. After a while she worked through her nose-mouth issues and declared everything smelled: “Bee-you-tah-ful!”
I plan to take her back to the gardens in a few weeks when the roses will be in full bloom. After all, June is known as the month when everything comes up roses. In fact, throughout the country there are a myriad of rose festivals, rose tours, and rose bushes on display at various local gardens. Which means there’s no excuse for you not to get out and smell the roses.
If you don’t live near a botanical garden or a university extension building consider checking out this site: www.rose.org. Once you’re there click on to “Public Gardens” and you will see a state-by-state directory of rose related events.
Here is a partial list of some of the most revered rose shows and gardens located across the country:
· Portland Rose Festival May 31-June 10th. The Portland Rose Festival is celebrating its centennial this year, and has organized a “History and Roses” tour to help visitors find some of the early gardens at historic sites and in various neighborhoods throughout the city.
· Washington Park and Peninsula Park rose gardens in Portland, Oregon. The city’s Peninsula Park Rose Garden dates to 1912, and its best known rose garden, in Washington Park, was established during World War I.
· Elizabeth Park, West Hartford, Connecticut Rose Weekend, June 23-24, includes concerts, readings, and children’s activities.
· Lyndale Park Rose Garden, Minneapolis.
· Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, Tyler, Texas. Also, the Texas Rose Festival, which takes place this year from October 18th-21st.
· Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York. On June 3rd there is a Jazz and Roses concert, rose garden tours, and a children’s rose-themed workshop at the garden.
· Krasberg Rose Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
· Pageant of Roses Garden, Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, California. near Los Angeles.
· Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego, California.
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