Admire the fragrant beauty of one of the world’s most important gardens and see where The City of Roses got its nickname.

When a group of Portland gardeners came up with the idea of a rose test garden in the city 1917, they could scarcely have believed that today, almost 100 years later, their vision would have become the country’s leading site’s for testing and grading of the beautiful, perennial plants.When asked why their city is known as The City of Roses, many Portland natives will direct visitors to this wonderfully beautiful garden in Washington Park, about 4.8 kilometres outside of town in the West Hills district. The garden’s main function is as an official site to test rose cultivars from all over the country and world for colour, pest resistance and fragrance. Suitable varieties are then named and released onto the market. However, with over 7,000 rose plants on its 1.8-hectare grounds, it has become a popular tourist attraction.It is a cornucopia of bright colours and sweet perfumes, and whether you take a guided tour or wander at your leisure, this is a magical place to explore. There are a number of different areas in the garden, including the Gold Medal Garden, which contains the award-winning blooms of previous years and the Queen’s walk, a path that is lined with bronzes plaques engraved with the names of the past and present queens of the Portland Rose Festival. The Shakespeare Garden once contained nothing but the flowers, herbs and trees mentioned in his plays but due to the many tall trees in the area, the majority of the original plants have been replaced by shade-resistant varieties, many of which are named in the great bard’s honour.Summer is the best time to visit the garden as the garden hosts regular free concerts and plays in its amphitheatre but the roses bloom from June to October. The International Rose Test Garden is open from 7.30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and admission is free.