Tending to roses at the Portland Rose Garden as the heat rises

It's been amazing how many people are starting to come back, so it's good news for Portland and good news for the Rose Garden. The flowers and the crowds were in full bloom today at Portland's Rose Garden. I really like plants and I like people, and so this is a really good hybrid of both. Rachel Burlington is the curator of the International Rose Test Garden. If you haven't seen it up close, it's eye-popping. It's amazing to see people's reaction when they come in here for the first time. My mom and I are visiting Portland and We came to check out this garden and it's amazing. In the test garden, they plant about a dozen new varieties every year. Rachel says June is growing season. So how do they keep these roses stretching toward the sun when the temperatures do too? A lot of it is just kind of eyeballing. You know, there isn't necessarily a scientific formula. We just kind of see what the roses tell us. And as far as the heat goes, it tends to wash out the color during fall is actually when the vibrant colors come out because it's a little bit cooler. Deanna and Arisha Siddiqui are visiting from Georgia with their family. They're used to the heat, but this was still a new experience. This is the first time I've actually smelled roses that smell really nice. Like usually like the grocery store ones in general, like you don't really smell anything. So it's been really nice stopping and smelling the different roses. Well, I like the bi-color. I like how it kind of has like so I like roses that have. Multi-dimensional color. Rachel spends a lot of time with these roses. She sees the similarities between them and the people who enjoy coming here. From afar, it just looks like a mass of color, but you go closer and you realize each one has its own story, its own little intricacies. I love it. Just like us. Exactly. Yeah, roses are just like us. We all have personalities and we look different, but it all looks beautiful. In Portland. John Goodwin, KGW News.