Portland Rose Garden Little Artist

In 1888, Georgiana Burton Pittock, wife of pioneer publisher Henry Pittock, invited her friends and neighbors to exhibit their roses in a tent set up in her garden. Thus began the annual rose show for Portland Rose Society. Jesse A. Currey, a former Rose Society president, convinced city fathers to inaugurate a rose test garden in 1917 with the support of the American Rose Society, City officials, and civic --minded citizens. At that time, Portland had 20 miles of rose-bordered streets -- a strategy to draw attention to the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial celebration. As a result, Portland was dubbed "City of Roses". The garden was a perfect opportunity for enhancing that reputation. Founded in 1917, Portland&International Rose Test Garden is the oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States. In the beginning, even though World War I was raging in Europe, hybridists sent roses from around the world to Portland&garden for testing and to keep the new hybrids safe from being destroyed by the bombing in Europe.