The Portland Gold Award is given annually by the Portland Rose Society to new rose cultivars that demonstrate exceptional performance in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
[1] The Portland Rose Society began as an informal rose society in 1888, organized by Georgiana Pittock, wife of the first Oregonian publisher, Henry Pittock.
The next year, Pittock turned her backyard rose competition into a fundraiser for her church.
She added a judging tent to her garden and charged admission to the event.
This annual event would later include a city parade, where local gardeners would strip their gardens of all but competition roses to decorate cars, horses, floats and wagons.