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Roses can be seen in full bloom for the first time this year at the Tyler Rose Garden.

The roses are “gorgeous” right now, said Holli Fourniquet, Visit Tyler senior vice president.

The Tyler Rose Garden features over 15,000 rose bushes and approximately 300 varieties of roses, according to the Visit Tyler website.

“The rose industry in Tyler really is what people know us for,” Fourniquet said. “We always say that the roses are kind of our foot in the door when we’re talking to tourists.”

She added that if someone has heard about Tyler, they’ve heard about the roses. That opens the door for visitors to see all the other “great things” the city offers, she said.

The rose garden draws in the most visitors during its peak rose seasons, which happen both in spring and fall, Fourniquet said.

The rose garden is significant to not only Tyler’s history, but also the state of Texas’ history, Fourniquet said. There are multiple historic structures that have been preserved from when the garden was first built, she said.

Because historical structures have been preserved, the garden was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is “really hard for a garden to get,” Fourniquet said.

“That is one of the things that makes (the rose garden) really special – maintaining that history of the rose and the rose industry here in Tyler, Texas,” she said.

More than one-third of the nation’s rose bushes are processed, packaged and shipped from the area.

While the roses are a big draw, there are many other attractions to the rose garden, Fourniquet said. It’s a great place to visit year-round where you can see fall colors, the beehive and bee-related events, historical aspects, the Idea Garden and more, she said.

People may come to Tyler to visit the Rose Garden, but they typically will do other things as well such as shop, eat or visit other local places, Fourniquet said, bringing in dollars for the city.

“Nobody comes in and just goes to the rose garden – they go out and visit other things in town as well,” Fourniquet said. “We always have good economic impact during these sunny, good weather seasons for Tyler.”

In celebration of the new rose blooms of the season, the Texas Rose Festival Association will be hosting its Rose Sunday event at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the atrium of the Rose Garden Center. The public is invited to attend.

The Texas Rose Festival Court Members and the 2022 Texas Rose Festival Scholarship recipient will be recognized at the ceremony.

This year’s Rose Festival Queen Molly Louise Berry and Mayor Don Warren will be speaking.

Liz Ballard, executive director of the Texas Rose Festival Association and curator of the Tyler Rose Museum, said Rose Sunday promotes civic pride and “our city’s mascot,” or the rose. She said the event serves as a great opportunity for the city to come together and “celebrate what put Tyler on the map.”

The event is sponsored by the family of Berry, City of Tyler Parks and Recreation Department, the Tyler Rose Museum and the Texas Rose Festival Association.