Overview

Welcome to Columbus Park of Roses, which USA Today newspaper calls “one of the largest and most celebrated municipal rose gardens in the United States.”

The 13 acre Park of Roses is nestled within the larger Whetstone Park. It contains three
unique rose gardens as well as herb and perennial gardens, annual display beds and
a restored Ohio prairie. Wide, smooth walkways and numerous benches make it easy
to enjoy the sights and smells of 11,000 roses including nearly 400 varieties. There is something for every rose lover here, from tiny miniatures to exuberant climbers covering overhead arbors.

The three rose gardens here represent the evolution of rose species and hybrids,
as well as the past, present and future of rose gardening. People's changing tastes in varieties, colors and cultivation practices can be traced from wild species roses known
since antiquity through the 21st century concept of Earth-Kind roses which thrive on
minimal care.

Columbus Park of Roses is maintained by the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, with help and support from the Rose Foundation and the Volunteers.
It is free to all visitors, accessible to strollers and wheelchairs and open from dawn
to dusk year around. Enjoy your visit!

Main Garden

The Main Garden is an Italianate formal design with roses grouped into symmetrical
beds and surrounding a large water fountain. Thick grass lawns divide the sections.
Most of the roses here are hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras and shrub roses. The
full effect of all these “modern” roses blooming at once can best be seen from atop the
iron observation tower at the north end of the garden.

Heritage Garden

Proceeding past two stone pillars, visitors find themselves in the Heritage Garden,
which showcases “old roses.” This is the place to see centifolias, gallicas, damasks and rugosas as well as species roses. Many of these roses bloom only once a year, but were used by hybridizers to create “modern roses” which bloom repeatedly throughout the
growing season. See a video about the Heritage Garden.

Earth-Kind Garden

This is the first public Earth-Kind Rose Demonstration garden outside of the deep South, where the program was developed at Texas A & M University in 2001. Commercially available roses were tested to select varieties requiring no pesticides, fertilizers,
dead-heading or pruning. Phase One of the garden was planted in 2007, with Phase Two
completed in time for the 2009 season. This garden design, with an informal layout and
under planting of shrubs is well suited to contemporary home gardens.

All American Rose Selections (AARS)

The Park of Roses is one of 130 AARS display gardens in America. Since 1938, the nonprofit association has encouraged the rose industry to develop better roses by placing promising varieties in a two-year test program. AARS winners can be seen here before they are commercially available. The new varieties are identified with special signs. Columbus Park of Roses has received the Outstanding Rose Garden Maintenance award from AARS for nearly 20 years.