Heaven for the rose lover

A visit to Heirloom Rose Gardens
by Debbi
Marionberry Cottage

A real treat this time of year in Western Oregon is to visit Heirloom Rose Gardens, located 25 miles southwest of Portland, Oregon. Five acres of themed rose gardens, and FREE to vistors!

If you are a rose lover you probably have heard of this wonderful place. I took a friend with me on a recent visit since we both share a love for beautiful fragrant roses. Most of the time meandering thru these breath taking gardens, we had our noses poked down to smell the lovely scents. We found that our interest in the type of rose we craved was so very different.
I am passionate about fluffy English roses, with lots of petals, and the old garden roses that grow wild on the road side, while she prefers the delicate and fragrant tea roses.

Beyond the wonderful manicured theme gardens are the test gardens beyond the fence shown above. What an amazing site with the roses blooming among the Douglas fir trees!

Above is the greenhouse where you can purchase the roses that are propigated at Heirloom Rose gardens. What I love the most about Heirloom Roses is the fact that they are all "own root" roses rather than grafted roses. They stay much healthier, and even if the tops freeze in the winter, the rose will come back from the roots. Heirloom Roses has a website that you can order directly from no matter where you live

Below are just a few of my faves---I must have took 50+ closeups--I love roses
can you tell???

I hope you enjoyed the tour of Heirloom Rose Gardens
Visit my website Marionberry Cottage to see my hand made creations that reflect my passion for roses too!

Potted Gardens cottage style!

As an avid container and cottage gardener, I am always on the hunt for something unusual to plant in besides a run of the mill plastic or clay pot! Below are some interesting and fun container gardens I have created in the past. As you can see you can plant in almost anything except gas cans. I have even planted in cowboy boots and tennis shoes. Your imagination is your only limit to the creative reuses for many container gardens!

Enamel roasting pan overflowing with marigolds--I added a little toy shovel accent

Metal canisters are perfect for narrow places where you need a splash of color

And the stand by metal watering can, overflows with blue lobelia.
(I slid in a gallon size plastic pot inside the watering can)

An old wicker purse lined with plastic was perfect
for bacopa and varigated geraniums

An old rocking chair placed in the garden~the pink
fairy rose loved to spread its wings here!

Old enamel refrigerator drawer is perfect for herbs

Toy rocking horse repainted hosts a basket of yellow marigolds.

I hope I have tickled your imagination for this years potted plants, as I enjoyed sharing it with you too. Visit me at my website Marionberry Cottage to see my other passion, textile art and my love of pink roses too!