Rose Weekend has been held annually for more than a century in Hartford, Connecticut’s Elizabeth Park, the nation’s oldest municipal rose garden. It is a two and one half acre garden which has about 800 varieties of roses that amount to 15,000 plants . Rambling roses cover arched walkways in the garden and the beds are filled with roses of every shape and color. Along the border, fences of climbing and shrub roses provide a colorful background for the bedding plants. The Rose Garden is one of only 22 public All America Test Gardens in the country. This test program evaluates new roses before they are introduced to the general public. While the main rose garden shows off the more modern roses, the Heritage Rose Garden is the home to more historical varieties. A number of unusual and interesting roses are found here. During its peak bloom time of early to mid June, it is the most fragrant place to be in the park.For more information, call 860-231-9443, or log on to www.elizabethpark.org.
