COLOMA ROSE GARDEN

Last weekend I was ecstatic to discover the most adorable rose garden I’ve ever been to thanks to a good friend who used to live in the Flemish municipality of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. This beautiful rose garden, just a short ride away from Brussels, is a well-kept secret amongst the locals and one of the best places to visit in Belgium during spring.

Tucked away behind the Coloma Castle, a 16th century fortress, Coloma Rose Garden is one of the most extensive of its kind in Europe. Over 200.000 roses of 3.000 varieties from 26 different countries on 65.000 bushes are annually grown for the lucky visitors, who can enjoy this magical place for free. The garden, which was created in 1995, is divided in various sections: The red and white one, which represents the heraldry of the municipality; the Flemish one, where you can admire the finest Flemish rose breeds; the “evolution” one, which takes you to a journey back in history and traces the evolution of roses across time; the international one, with pergolas and verandas full of roses from all over the world; one with some 400 beautiful long-stemmed roses and last but not least, the Japanese one. At the very end of the garden there is a rose orchard with more than 125 varieties of climbing roses – my favourite spot in the whole place, so romantic and peaceful!

After wandering around the colorful mazes of Coloma Rose Garden and taking hundreds of pictures (a few of which you can find below), we visited the Rose Museum and then had a wonderful picnic at Coloma Park, just next to Coloma Castle. A perfect day in one of the most surprisingly beautiful spots I’ve discovered in Belgium so far!

INFO

Address: J. Depauwstraat 1, 1600 Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium