Address
Directions
Between Main Street and Franklin Street
Phone
Fax
Run by
Municipality of Winona
Date Established
Cost
No admission fee
Peak Season
Peak season (notes)
Mid-June through August
Region
Garden Type
Extras
- Free parking in park
- Weddings can be scheduled in the garden
- Picnicking
- Restrooms
- Accessible
- Hiking/Biking – 5.5 miles of pathway around Lake Winona
Comments
In 1957, Dr. C.A. “Clay” Rohrer, with the assistance of the Winona Rose Society, persuaded the city to establish a rose garden. Fifty bushes were installed that first year. Through time, with donations and memorials, the numbers of roses grew. By 1971, there were over 1,000. In 1975, the garden took on the name of the local dentist that had spearheaded its inception. Today it still has over 200 roses of about 35 varieties. They are massed by color in raised planter beds around a gazebo. There is no plant signage to help identify varieties. The park is sited on the edge of Lake Winona with picturesque Sugar Loaf in the background. There are a few other perennial beds in the park.
Also within the park is a nearby section of shoreline of Lake Winona which is a shoreline habitat restoration project of the DNR. Here an attractive buffer zone of native plants has been installed providing habitat for wildlife. There is explanatory and educational signage at the site.
