These Ain’t My Yard Roses!
Posted by terrepruitt on May 2, 2015
We have a beautiful rose garden in San Jose, CA. I do not recall ever having been in there before my visit last week. I have lived here all my life and I do not remember ever going inside the Rose Garden. I remember going to it once, but it was closed so we didn’t get in. This past week, my friend wanted to put up some fliers so we decided to walk through the garden. I might have made it all the way through at a more leisurely pace if we had not stopped to talk to one of the ex-gardeners. My friend had been telling me some of what he had said, but he had a lot of information regarding the garden and roses in general. The rose garden is beautiful.
It is 5 1/2–acres of grass and roses. What my friend was telling me and then the ex-gardener expounded upon was that roses get tested there. So there is an entire section of roses that don’t have names. You will just see numbers on the placards. Those are patent numbers. The roses are there for three years and the rose growers see how they do. I am sure there is a list of things they are looking for in order to qualify as a new variety. The are probably being tested for size and color. Also fortitude. I am sure they don’t want a rose that will not be able to grow well. The ex-gardener mentioned that the rose growers are getting more interested in aroma. You might be familiar with the fact that most roses you purchase now-a-days don’t really have a scent. It is as if they are so busy breeding HUGE colorful roses that they bred the scent right out of them.
The ex-gardner mentioned that the public wants smelly roses. So the growers are working on putting the scent back into new varieties.
So it really seems that I picked an AWESOME day to go to the rose garden. I mean, how lucky were we to run into this man who used to work there taking care of the roses. He was so full of information and so kind to take his time to share his knowledge with us. He even pointed out his roses. Miles of Smiles they are called.
The rose garden is host to many events. People take pictures for special events all the time. There is enough grass to have a picnic or just spread out a blanket and relax. There are also a few picnic tables.
The problem for me is after having stopped to talk to the ex-gardener I used up all my “outside-breathe-time”. We ended up rushing through a portion of it so that we could have time to hang the flyers before I passed out from sneezing! My allergies are very apparent this time of year.
We actually have TWO rose gardens in San Jose. The one I recently visited is where they test the new roses and my friend was saying the other one is where they have the old variety of roses. I will have to get to that one.
The website for the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden states that the garden has over 4,000 rose shrubs. There are 189 varieties represented. Click here to visit the website.
Have you ever visited the Rose Garden in San Jose? Did you know they tested roses there?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
sonja said
You mus like Hybrid Tea roses best, those were 99% of your photos. Me too, I only like that variety. I have 9 roses in pots on my deck and every one was purchased because of fragrance, as well as the color variety. Only one, the Sonia rose was purchased because it is my name and my grandmother bought one when I was born and had it in their yard up until the property was sold. I remember some of the names. Love, Perfect Moment, Double Delight (says it is a hybrid tea shape isnt quite as perfect), sugar moon, Sonia, Lagerfeld, Gold Medal, Thanks for the nice story, last I checked, they didnt allow dogs at the Rose Garden though.
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terrepruitt said
I love all your roses! Rose bushes tend to still have a fragrance, but the roses one buys – long stem kind – no long have a frangrance And, yeah, it is not a dog park, so no dogs allowed. 😉 I want to visit the other rose garden. I thought it was “new” but it’s been there since 1995!
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Elaine said
No dogs allowed inside, but lots of people who live nearby walk their dogs around the perimeter. I walked Pansy there almost every day for years – it was one of my favorite places to go because I could still smell the roses (without stopping, even!) and people tend to keep their dogs on leash there.
Terre, I’m so glad we went there on a whim, despite all the sneezes. It was a beautiful day and we were lucky to run into the one and only Myles Tobin. What an educational chat!
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terrepruitt said
It is a nice walk (as in distance) around, too.
I am glad we went, too. As I said, I REALLY don’t think I had been there before. I always meant to, but never made it. Now I want to go to the other one.
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Elaine said
Here’s a nice article on the difference between San Jose’s two large rose gardens. http://www.grpg.org/river-park-gardens/heritage-rose-garden/tale-of-two-rose-gardens
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terrepruitt said
I’ll have to check it out. (I’m off to make dinner right now!)
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