Point Defiance Rose Garden

Spring is a great time to be outdoors in the Pacific Northwest, so we visited the rose garden at Point Defiance park, which is more than 130 years old. It had a full-time gardener until the 70s, who lived in a house on the grounds. I forgot to take a photo of it. Not very exciting, but I found myself drawn to the amazing colors and shapes of so many flowers in bloom at the same time.

This is the central pagoda of the rose garden, which is arranged in concentric rows around it. The design philosophy of the first master gardener (Ebenezer Roberts) was more natural rather than highly organized, and that’s how the garden has remained through time.

This jumble of color is typical of the rose garden on a spring day.

They had more than roses in the rose garden. According to CoPilot, this is a Whorled Yellow Loosestrife. It appears to be in full bloom.

I never suspected there was a state society for a flower, but they had planted rows of numbered plants in a portion of the rose garden. The fence is to keep out the deer, which devour, stomp, and basically destroy flowering plants.

The rose beds are arranged concentrically around the center, but they are mixed up by variety. I’ll just show some photos of the gorgeous blooms we saw.

This Dublin Bay variety is distinctive because it has strong stalks and grows high, concentrating growth on the ends of very thorny branches.

I didn’t take a photo of the sign identifying this remarkable rose, but CoPilot thinks it is Scentimental (1997, floribunda).

They even had agave doing very well in the PNW. We want some of this for our yard.

This is a Korean dogwood (according to CoPilot). Note the deer-protection installed around the base. Deer are very destructive to new growth and weak trunks, based on my personal experience.

And those aren’t flower petals, they are bracts. The tiny flowers are in the center.

Note the dark purple, almost black, flowers growing from the same plant as the orange flowers.

Amazing!

These are the plants that don’t require deer protection. They are outside the defensive fence, and they are thriving.

I thought this was a Japanese garden until…

I noticed dolls arranged throughout the area. It reminded me of the horrifying Disney World ride, It’s a Small World. Now that song has returned to haunt me. Creepy … if you want my opinion.

I wasn’t very excited about going to the rose garden at first, but the combination of perfect weather and all these treasures of nature on display won me over. This is yet another reason to love living in the Pacific Northwest–especially Tacoma.