Helen S Kaman Rose Garden at Elizabeth Park in Connecticut 2025

The Helen S. Kaman Rose Garden is located in the center of Elizabeth Park in Hartford, Connecticut. This place is proud to be the first municipal rose garden in the United States and its third-largest rose garden today.

The iconic rose arches are usually in full bloom from mid-June to early July. They only bloom once, so make sure to be there at the right time. Many of the other roses in the garden bloom until October.

The Rose Garden was designed in 1903 by Theodore Wirth, and it opened to the public that same year. This charming place started with about 190 rose varieties, which grew to almost 1,000 by the 1950s. Today, you can observe over 15,000 rose bushes and around 800 varieties of old and new roses in the garden.

The “square,” the original main garden, is an acre (0.404 hectares) in size and owns around 130 rose beds. The author's original design of a square remains today. The South and North gardens were added a bit later and made up 2.5 ac (1.01 ha) of roses, 475 beds, and eight grass pathways. The wide paths were intended to accommodate a larger audience.

There are lots of other attractions to be explored. Elizabeth Park is about nature walks, greenhouses, rock gardens, and perennials. Lounge, restaurant, and auditorium are available at Pond House as well.