The Wohl Rose Garden, or Wohl Rose Park, is one of the few rose parks of its kind in the Middle East, and has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful rose gardens in the world.
The park is located in Jerusalem and features around 450 varieties of roses are grown there, many of them gifts from countries around the world.
Also displayed there are wild roses from the Land of Israel (the Dog Rose and Phoenician Rose), ancient varieties, and rare or endangered roses designated for conservation.
The Wohl Rose Park’s Garden of Nations is made up of sections donated by other countries. Each section has rose varieties characteristic of, or grown in, the respective country as well as trellises, sculptures and fountains.
The park also has an experimental section where new varieties of roses are tested for their suitability for public and private gardens in Israel.
The main flowering period of the park’s roses is in the spring, from the end of April through mid May. The modern roses in the park continue to blossom through the summer and autumn seasons, until the start of winter.
In addition to some 15,000 rose bushes, the park has expansive lawns, hills, quarries, an ornamental pond with aquatic plants and fish, a waterfall, rockeries, and sculptures.
Also growing in the Wohl Rose Garden are some 200 species of ornamental trees, bushes and plants.
Also, a sixth-century mosaic floor unearthed at Kibbutz Sde Nahum is on display in the park.
The original design for the park was drawn up in 1949 and became known as President’s Park as it is located opposite the Knesset at the foot of the Israeli Supreme Court.
In its early years, the park was only used for official government ceremonies but was opened to the general public towards the end of the 1950s.
The Israel Flower Board chose this location to be the focal point of the international rose congress that convened in Israel in 1981, due to its unique location and panoramic views.