Los Angeles herald., 1905-06-18
PORTLADS MONSTER ROSE SHOW FLORAL RECORD BREAKER
Written for The Herald by w. e..
Brindlev
~ oRTLAND proved her title to


D oRTLAND proved her title to
fame as the Rose City of the
World by holding, during the
early days of the Lewis and Clark
exposition, the most successful rose
show ever held in America. The show.
which took place in the auditorium at
the exposition, demonstrated to the
many eastern visitors who were pres-
ent that the stories Of Portland roses
were not myths, for half a million
blossoms, some of them as large as the
biggest sunflowers, bore fragrant tes-
timony that the half had not been told.
There have been rose shows in many
cities. but the Portland rose show was
different from others in that the roses
on exhibition were grown out Of doors,
in front yards, rather than in hot
houses under the watchful care of ex-
perienced florists. In Portland every
body has roses. There are rose hedges
in the yards and rows Of roses line the
boulevards, while climbing roses lift
their flower heads to second and even
third-story windows. The roses dis
played at the exposition were the kind
which are found everywhere in Port
land, and which may be had for the
asking.
There were twenty-eght contestants,
all but four being amateurs. Besides
those who tried for prizes, hundreds of
people contributed to the success of the
undertaking by giving their choicest
blossoms, and, although half a million
blooms in all were shown, and per-
haps as many more rejected as un-
worthy of Portland's fame as the Rose
city, no visible impression was made on
the bounteous supply.
In Portland, as elsewhere, June is
the month of roses, but no one speaks
of it as such, because while the bios
SONS are rather more abundant in June
than at any other season, the rose
blooms the year around as 1t does in
Los Angeles. At the rose show at the
Lewis and Clark exposition there prob
ably were more roses than ever before |
were gathered under one roof. De Ca
prio's Administration band, which was
enthroned on the stage, was almost !
completely hidden by bank of fra
grant blossoms. The frame of an Ital-
ian pergola, which lowered thirty feet
toward the ceiling and was covered
completely with mass Of roses and
twining smilax, formed the center of
the bank, while at either side tier
after tier of roses in huge bouquets
made a wall of color. The official flag
of the exposition, made in colors by the
ingenious use of bluetes, irises, carna-
tions and roses, composed the CENTER
piece of the whole.
Perhaps the most attractive feature
of the rose show was a bower in the
center Of the building, built after the
manner of a grape arbor and covered
like the pergola, with a profusion of
choice blooms. Aside from the per-
COLA and the bower, there was no at
tempt at elaborate display, but the
whole effect was far more delightful
than would have been the case had the
show been made more artificial. Low
tables, covered with plain, dark green
wall paper, bore thousands of roses,
which surpassed a florists window at
the holiday time. There were all kinds
of roses of every hue and every va
riety-large roses and small roses red
roses and white and pink and yellow
ones-roses everywhere in such pro-
fusion that they filled the spacious
building with the fragrance of spring
time and glorified its plain interior
with gorgeous galaxy of rainbow ra-
dance.
In Portland this summer, during the
exposition period, which continues un-
til October is. there will be a rose show
every day, for there are 10000 rose