Columbus Park of Roses

On Saturday last weekend Kenneth and I finally made it to the Columbus Park of Roses during a peak blooming period.  We visited last summer, but it was near the end of the blooming period for most of the roses.  

The Columbus Park of Roses is a 13 acre park located within Whetstone Park, in the Clintonville area.  The park is open all year, but the best times to visit for the roses are May (when the roses in the heritage garden begin to bloom), June and September.  There are also a variety of flowering trees in the park including dogwoods, redbuds, quince, crabapple and magnolia trees, which bloom in the spring.  In addition to the roses and flowering trees, there is a perennial herb garden with geranium, mint, horseradish and lots of other cool plants!

The park was absolutely gorgeous!  I've never seen so many roses in bloom at once - and so many different and unique colors!  There are over 350 different varieties of roses, with a total of over 11,000 rose bushes.  We spotted so many lovely roses, some of the colors we saw were burgundy red, brilliant white, pale yellow, bright tangerine, salmon pink, ruddy orange, pastel pink, peachy yellow and more...

Even more than their gorgeous colors, I love the scent of roses.  I was crouching over so many like a goofball, trying to find my favorite rose.  Not all of the roses had a very strong fragrance and I stooped to smell lot of flowers before finding my favorite: 'Fragrant Hour' (pictured below).  'Fragrant Hour' is a gorgeous orange-pink hybrid tea rose, and it smells wonderful!  The fragrance was exactly what I imagine when I think of the scent of a rose.  I plan to have roses when Kenneth and I have a home with a backyard in the future - I will definitely keep this rose in mind, as well as this article from the 'for dummies' website, Choosing Fragrant Rose Varieties for Your Garden.  It lists all of the roses that have won the Gamble Fragrance Award, including 'Fragrant Hour.'