For more than 100 years, people in the Northwest have been celebrating the Portland Rose Festival. Not surprisingly, the Festival Foundation says roses are a big part.

“We love the roses. In fact, that’s always been a part of the Rose Festival tradition. That’s why Portland is the Rose City,” said Marilyn Clint.

But this spring has been unseasonably chilly. Will that chill put the brakes on Portland’s roses? Will they bloom in time for this year’s festival?

At the Portland International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park Tuesday there were plenty of buds -- but almost no rose blooms.

AP

Hannah Rose, 9, of St Louis, smells a rose during a tour of Portland's International Rose Test Garden in Portland.

Harry Landers has worked in the garden for 19 years. He says some years the rosebuds bloom as early as April. In other years, it can be as late as June.

“A week of hot, nice weather, and we could be in full bloom,” said Landers.

And just last year, that’s what happened. A warm streak at the end of May helped 90 percent of the roses in Washington Park to bloom. It was just in time for the Rose Festival.

But this May might not be like the last. A relentless chill has plagued the region this spring.

Landers said “with the number of buds we have, there’ll be color -- there just won’t be a lot of it.”

So there’s hope for at least some color in the garden for this year’s festival. Only time and mother nature will tell just how much.