The Perfect Pair: Antique Rose Emporium and Blue Bell Creameries

The Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham offers an inviting combination of horticulture, Texas history, and beautiful outdoor spaces. It is a particularly enjoyable stop for travelers who love the beauty of gardens or who want to catch a glimpse of rare and historic rose varieties.

Blue Bell Creameries is another Brenham destination with deep local roots and a distinctly Texas tradition. The hometown creamery invites visitors to learn about the company's history, watch ice cream production, and enjoy a scoop of their favorite flavor. 

Together, these attractions make two of the best things to do while visiting Brenham, TX.

Antique Rose Emporium

The Antique Rose Emporium is both a working nursery and a garden destination where visitors can shop for plants, explore landscaped grounds, and learn about historic roses.

Visit the Nursery

The Antique Rose Emporium was founded in 1983 to help preserve Old Garden Roses, including varieties that were in danger of disappearing from cultivation. Today, the nursery carries antique and modern roses along with perennials, annuals, native plants, herbs, and other selections for Texas gardens. 



For visitors who want to take home something from their experience, the nursery and gift shop offer plants, seeds, gardening books, accessories, houseplants, and gifts.

Visit the Gardens

The eight-acre display gardens are designed to show visitors how roses and other plants can work together in a larger landscape. Paths lead through beautifully designed outdoor areas, giving gardeners plenty of ideas to take home. 

One of the property's most distinctive areas surrounds Champneys' Green, a 1904 Victorian home that now provides a historic backdrop for private events. Its outdoor pavilion, gazebo, and tiered trellis paths are incorporated into gardens filled with cascading roses and other plants. 

Tours and Tips

• The display gardens can be explored through a free, self-guided tour.
• Visitors who want more background can book a paid guided tour with co-owner Jim Keeter, who discusses the property's roses, history, and approach to sustainable, Texas-friendly landscaping.
• The on-site gift shop sells plants, seeds, books, gardening supplies, apparel, and gifts, while snacks and refreshments are available for visitors who want something to enjoy while walking through the gardens.
  

Blue Bell Creameries - Brenham

After spending a morning enjoying the roses, head over to this famous ice cream destination. Blue Bell's Brenham facility gives visitors the opportunity to learn how the company grew from a small local creamery into a nationally recognized ice cream maker.

Blue Bell Creameries History

Blue Bell's story began in Brenham in 1907, when a group of local businessmen established the Brenham Creamery Company to make butter from excess cream supplied by area farmers. The company began producing ice cream several years later. In 1930 it adopted the Blue Bell name, inspired by the Texas bluebell wildflower. 

By 1958, the company had stopped making butter and devoted its production entirely to ice cream, helping establish the Brenham creamery as the center of the Blue Bell story.

Visit Blue Bell Creameries - Brenham

A visit to Blue Bell begins at the Visitor Center, where guests can take a self-guided journey through more than a century of Blue Bell history. From there, the Observation Deck provides a behind-the-scenes look at current production, where visitors can watch parts of the ice cream-making process.

After the tour, visitors can head to the Ice Cream Parlor, where everyone can choose from a selection of hand-dipped flavors, including some that are available only at the parlor. The Country Store is another stop worth making, particularly for guests looking for Blue Bell-themed shirts, mugs, magnets, gifts, and other souvenirs.

Tours and Tips

• Visitors follow a self-guided experience through the Visitor Center, with the public areas providing different views into the company's history and operations.
• The Ice Cream Parlor offers scoops, frozen snacks, and bottled water.
• The creamery is wheelchair accessible, making the Visitor Center, parlor, store, and other public areas easier for guests with mobility needs to enjoy.