another sweet detail

These are a couple of examples of some manhole covers in Portland. A lot of the covers here feature roses as Portland is known as the City of Roses. Washington Park in the city houses the International Test Garden which is the oldest continuously operating public rose test garden in the United States. There are over 7,000 rose plants of approximately 550 varieties. The roses bloom from April through October with the peak coming in June, depending on the weather. New rose cultivars are continually sent to the garden from many parts of the world and are tested for color, fragrance, disease resistance and other attributes.
In 1917 a group of Portland nurserymen came up with the idea for an American rose test garden. Portland had an enthusiastic group of volunteers and 20 miles of rose bordered streets, largely from the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition. Portland was already dubbed "The City of Roses" so this was leveraged to enhance the reputation. Between Portland Parks and Recreation and the American Rose Society, the garden soon became a reality.
Jessie Currey, president of Portland's Rose Society at the time, petitioned for the city to serve as a safe haven for hybrid roses grown in Europe during World War I. Rose lovers feared that these unique plants could be destroyed as a result of the war. Foreign hybridists sent roses for test from many countries and the garden was an immediate success. Today, Portland is the only North American city that can issue its awards to roses of merit throughout the world.