Location: North Seattle
Address: 750 N. 50th St.
Acreage: 2.5
The Woodland Park Rose Garden is a very special place for me. First, it’s where I met my husband, and then a couple of years later, it’s where I got engaged. I love to go back around this time of year to do a little reminiscing, as well as to wander around the gravel paths and smell all the gorgeous roses.
With input from those busy Olmstead Brothers, this rose garden was opened in 1924. You can see a cool old photo of the garden on the Seattle Foundation’s web site, which raised $90,000 to help restore the fountains, reflecting pool and sculpture. These architectural features are beautiful, although it’s easy to overlook them in the sea of petals.
The variety of roses here is amazing, 280 varieties in fact, and this rose garden used to be a national test garden for growing new varieties.
Unlike the adjacent Woodland Park Zoo, the rose garden is free to visit. And, may I suggest it as a location for a romantic picnic?
#188 (Visited 5/27/10)