Sights to see: International Rose Test Garden, Portland, Oregon

International Rose Test Garden 400 SW Kingston Ave., in Washington Park, (503) 823-3636. Daily 7:30-9. Free. This test garden began in another location in 1915, when a rose hobbyist got city officials to approve a garden dedicated to saving European roses from World War I bombings. Roses arrived from around the world. The garden moved to its current site in 1917, and now covers 4.5 acres. You can see more than 8,555 rose bushes representing some 722 varieties--including the almost black "Black Magic" rose, which is actually a deep blood red and the sweet smelling magenta "Firefighter Rose” named in honor of firefighters lost in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. In 1940, the garden became a testing site for the All-America Rose Selection.

image c2011 Carole Terwilliger Meyers