Owen Rose Garden peaks in June with more than 4,500 blooms

The Owen Rose Garden was at its brightest in June, with more than 4,500 rose bushes and climbing roses across 400-plus varieties giving Eugene one of its most familiar free warm-weather outings. The display was expected to hold through about the end of the month, with heritage roses adding a short window of color that matters because some of those varieties bloom only once a year.

The garden stretches across about 8 acres beside the Willamette River near the Washington Jefferson Street bridge, just off Jefferson Street in downtown Eugene. Its roots go back to 1951, when George E. Owen, a former Eugene city councilor and lumberman, donated five acres and his house to the city. Soon after, the Eugene Rose Society added the original rose bushes, helping turn the site into a public garden that now holds one of the most extensive heritage rose collections in the Pacific Northwest.

Visitors move through accessible gravel walkways, a pergola-lined paved path, benches, a 28-foot-diameter gazebo, an arbor picnic area, a restroom and a maintenance facility. The garden’s layout makes it a practical stop for a short walk, family photos, graduation pictures or a longer visit tied to the riverfront and downtown. The Eugene Heritage Rose Group also hosted free weekly heritage rose tours every Saturday from May through September, with docent-led walks starting at the covered pergola and lasting about an hour.

Stewardship has shaped the garden as much as its blooms. Eugene Delta Rotary spearheaded a major renovation from 1999 to 2004, and in May 2023 the city said the heritage rose section got new boulder placement, the removal of old utility poles and 10 custom steel supports for climbing roses. Those supports were designed, fabricated and installed with help from Lane Community College’s welding program, with a donation from longtime volunteer Elaine Sedlack helping fund the work.

The grounds also hold the Oregon Heritage Cherry Tree, believed to be the country’s oldest and largest Black Tartarian cherry tree. Travel Oregon says Eugene Skinner likely planted it in the mid-1800s on his 1846 land claim before the site later came to George Owen and was donated for use as a rose garden. The tree has hosted hundreds of weddings over the years, and the garden itself can be rented for small weddings and family events, with the gazebo holding up to 100 people and the picnic arbor and cherry-tree area each holding up to 50.