The Tyler Municipal Rose Garden is a 14-acre rose garden in Tyler, one of the biggest cities in East Texas, and is known for processing about 80 percent of the nation’s roses. Most notably, its rose garden is Tyler’s number one tourist attraction and has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places according to the Tyler Public Library. It is known as the “rose capital of America” and is a quick road trip from the Brazos Valley.
According to the Tyler Public Library, in the 1900s fruit orchards were important to the area, but when the fruit industry was wiped out, many farmers turned to growing roses.
By the 1920s the rose industry had developed into a major business, and by the 1940s more than half of the U.S. supply of rose bushes was grown in Tyler, shares Holli Conley-Fourniquet, vice president of marketing of Visit Tyler.
“Tyler is known for the roses but even beyond that we’re really known as ‘a natural beauty’ here in the area,” says Conley.
Texas has different types of landscapes, and Tyler is in the piney woods, which makes Tyler perfec
tly suited to grow roses due to its climate and soil, Conley explains.
“It’s a different ‘scape than anywhere else in Texas,” Conley says. “This is a gardener’s paradise.”
Texas is known for its hospitality, but Conley says it is the very thing that makes Tyler special. Conley has lived in a lot of different places in Texas, but she says there is nothing like the Texas hospitality in Tyler.
“We call it ‘keeping Tyler rosy,’” says Conley. “It’s not just our roses but the services that we provide as well. You’re going to get a personal experience and you really feel like you’ve lived here your whole life.”
Conley has visited the Tyler Rose Garden with her family plenty of times and she says it’s more breathtaking than you’d imagine. You know it’s a rose garden, but once you’re there it’s a real experience.
“It’s in the middle of town but it doesn’t feel that way once you walk through the gate,” says Conley. “It really feels like kind of an oasis. It’s real quiet. You just walk and walk through a ton of rose bushes; there are climbing roses that go over gazebos and water fountains, and it is just a really beautiful place.”
Most of the property is nothing but rose bushes, but there is also a botanical garden with other flowers like Japanese maples, azaleas, and so many others, Conley describes.
“So, when [the roses] aren’t in bloom,
the garden is still a gorgeous place,” says Conley.
The roses bloom twice a year during late April or early May and then again in October. Tyler hosts its Texas Rose Festival the third weekend in October and it’s over the top, says Conley.
“There’s a rose queen with a beautiful gown, tea in the garden, and a parade,” says Conley. “It’s really a celebration of the roses.”
The festival is expected to go on as planned in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but is subject to change. The park is open to the public, but the garden can also be visited through virtual tours.
For more information on the rose garden and activity guides, visit visittyler.com/tylerrosegarden.
