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The Old Rose Garden

Upon entering the park, you pass by the historic nursery Display Garden (1934) on the right, now filled with over 400 roses and other flowering trees and shrubs. From 1934 to 1970, the garden enchanted visitors. Thousands of flowering bulbs filled the beds for the annual spring shows. During the rest of the year, the beds held the roses, shrubs, and trees that filled the pages of the catalogs. Each year new plants were planted that represented the latest catalog choices.

Today, the display garden holds historic roses and blooming shrubs and trees, some of which were planted when the nursery was still in business.

Over time, the Display Gardens have been called Show Gardens and Niles Rose Garden. With the new Entry Rose Garden, will this get more confusing? Fragrantly confusing?

The Roses in the Display Garden

The interactive map below will eventually identify all the roses that are now in the garden. It does not now. We need help. Thank you to Tom Bonfigli, Karin Pruscha, and Jill Perry for helping with the ID. Why don't we know? Roses were installed in 1994 and many have been replaced since then without updating a master list.

Look for a number/letter (like 1B) painted on a brick at the ends of a bed. You can click on a bed on the map below using that number/letter and find out which roses are in the bed. Generally, start on the bottom left of the bed and work your way around clockwise or from left to right.

The Rose Naming Project

The Rose Naming Project was officially started April 19th, 2017, with the Facebook posting of the F.J. Grootendorst in Bed 3G. We started with Kate Lipman's rose lists from the initial 1990s installation. Many roses are still there and, of course, there are additions and substitutions over time. [more]

Many of our roses were planted in the 1990s by the Friends of Heirloom Flowers. But some of the roses in the garden may date from before that time, from the last days of the nursery.

Some of the roses that are currently in the rose garden were planted in the 1960s. They are all varieties that were sold at California Nursery (Bruce R. 2013). In the maps, there are roses that are "unknown" and those roses may be the roses planted in the 1960s. The Friends of Heirloom Flowers has scrapbooks with photos of the planting in 1990s and we can perhaps see which roses remained from those photos.

We've had help with the rose identification. Jill Perry looked at our old roses.

Karin P. took up the rose naming in May 2018. Tom Bonfigli spent hours with us finding names. And of course, the regular gardeners know some of them.

See what was planted in the 1990s on flickr

The Historic Roses in the Garden

The roses listed in the original 1990s planting include significant roses that were sold in the John Rock era catalogs and beyond. Here are some of them. If it says 'deceased' after the name, the rose is not in the garden any longer. We will be planting some of these again.

Stanwell Perpetual (catalog 1897-1898) (deceased, reintroduced, and re-deceased)
Joasine Hanet / Glendora, Damask (catalog 1894-1895)
Souvenir de la Malmaison (catalog (1894-1895)
Duchesse de Brabant (catalog 1897-1898, 1898) (deceased)
Baronne Prevost (catalog 1897-1898) (deceased)
Hermosa (catalog 1897-1898) (deceased)
Cecile Brunner (catalog 1897-1898)
Banksiae (double white) (catalog 1897-1898) (on the water tower)
Perle d’Or (catalog 1897-1898) (deceased)
Belle Poitevine (catalog 1898) (deceased)
La Reine (catalog 1899) (deceased)
Rosa Mundi (catalog 1899) (deceased)
York and Lancaster (catalog 1899)
White Maman Cochet (catalog 1905) (deceased)
Red Maman Cochet (catalog 1905) which was later more famously known as the "Niles Cochet" having originated here at the nursery.
Our historic hedge is Ragged Robin or Gloire des Rosomanes (1905-1906) and perfumes the air when it is in full bloom.

Tom Liggett's rose nursery donated 50 roses to the Friends of Heirloom Flowers (FoHF) in January of 1996 and many of the climbers ended up at the California Nursery along the fences. Tom Liggett was involved with the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden in Guadalupe Park which was established around the same time, 1995. Kate Lipman (FoHF) donated 50 old and special varieties. At one time, the count was 400 roses, not including the "Ragged Robin" hedge along the entrance drive.

Some roses came from Gregg Lowery.

Regan Nursery donated roses early on and has continued to do so over the years.

Historic Display Gardens 1939

Aerial photo from 1939 showing the distinctive formal display beds where our rose garden now sits.

Portion of 1939 Landscape plan courtesy of the Museum of Local History.

A Rose Show ca. 1940

Display Gardens during the Rose Show around 1940. The roses include 'Charlotte Armstrong' which was introduced in 1940. This photo predates the original windmill that stood at the top of the bell-shaped curve. Today's windmill is placed at the center where a flowering tree once stood.

Labels can be seen for 'Charlotte Armstrong' (1940), 'Autumn' (1928), 'Glowing Sunset' (1933), 'Perfection' (?), and Majorca (Majorica?) (1938)

A flowering tree can be seen in the center right of the formal garden. The windmill is in this location today. This is probably beds 2E and 2D.

Almost the same location. The photo was taken in between rows 1B and 1C

Todo's

Future labeling project: Mt. Diablo Rose Society has created labels many years. They buy labels from here. They buy stakes from Seefine Flower Marker Co..

On the Lookout! Vintage AARS roses before 1970

This List is from Our Garden Gang. It may disappear without warning, so here are the names of the roses without their additional descriptions. It also may not be totally accurate. So check with Helpmefind to make sure.

Please help us find those AARS rose winners that were probably sold by the California Nursery. You can check the catalog list to be sure. The roses sold by the nursery often are in movies, in photos with models, or are on the covers of the catalogs. We want those so we can show off our history.

If a rose is in bold, we have it already. The asterisk denotes that it is difficult to find.

1970

First Prize

1969

Angel Face

Comanche

Gene Boerner

Pascali

1968

Europeana

Miss All-American Beauty

Scarlet Knight

1967

Bewitched

Gay Princess

Lucky Lady

Roman Holiday

1966

American Heritage

Apricot Nectar

Matterhorn

1965

Camelot

Mister Lincoln

1964

Granada - very fragrant

Saratoga

1963

Royal Highness

Tropicana

1962

Christian Dior

Golden Slippers

John S. Armstrong

King's Ransom

1961

Duet

Pink Parfait

1960

Fire King

Garden Party

Sarabande

1959

Ivory Fashion

Starfire - this is the Queen for a Day rose! We gotta get it!

1958

Fusilier

Gold Cup

White Knight

1957

Golden Showers

White Bouquet

1956

Circus - ailing

1955

Jiminy Cricket

Queen Elizabeth - we have lots

1954

Lilibet* - cover rose

Mojave

1953

Chrysler Imperial - cover rose

Ma Perkins

1952

Fred Howard* - a famous rose grower

Helen Traubel - cover rose

Vogue

1951

None

1950

Capistrano

Fashion

Mission Bells*

Sutters Gold - waiting to be planted

1949

Forty-Niner

Tallyho*

1948

Diamond Jubilee

High Noon

Nocturne

Pinkie

San Fernando*

Taffeta

1947

Rubaiyat

1946

Peace

1945

Floradora

Horace McFarland* - well known rosarian

Mirandy

1944

Fred Edmunds

Katherine T. Marshall

Lowell Thomas

Mme. Chaing Kai-shek * - San Jose Heritage has this rose

Mme. Marie Curie*

1943

Grand Duchesse* Charlotte

Mary Margaret McBride

1942

Heart's Desire

1941

Apricot Queen*

California*

Charlotte Armstrong - want this because we have its picture in the show gardens.

1940

Dickson's Red

Flash*

The Chief*

World's Fair

For reference only - the newer AARS roses. Please focus on those before and including 1970 in the list above.

This List is from Our Garden Gang. It may disappear without warning, so here are the names of the roses without their additional descriptions.

The roses that we have in the garden are in bold.

2002

Love and Peace

Starry Night

2001

Marmalade Skies

Glowing Peace

Sun Sprinkles

2000

Knock Out

Crimson Bouquet

Gemini

Betty Boop

1999

Fourth of July - waiting to be planted

Candelabra

Kaleidoscope

1998

Fame!

Sunset Celebration

First Light

Opening Night

1993

Solitude

Sweet Inspiration

Child's Play

Rio Samba

1992

All That Jazz

Pride 'n' Joy

Brigadoon

1991

Shining Hour

Sheer Elegance

Perfect Moment

Carefree Wonder - ailing, so if you can find this, please buy it

1990

Pleasure

1989

Class Act

Debut

New Beginning

Tournament of Roses

1988

Amber Queen

Mikado

Prima Donna

1987

Bonica

New Year

Sheer Bliss

1986

Broadway

Touch of Class

Voodoo

1985

Showbiz

1984

Impatient

Intrigue

Olympiad

1983

Sun Flare

Sweet Surrender

1982

Brandy

French Lace

Mon Cheri

Shreveport

1981

Bing Crosby

Marina

White Lightnin'

1980

Love

Honor

Cherish

1979

Friendship

Paradise

Sundowner

1978

Charisma

Color Magic

1977

Double Delight

First Edition

Prominent

1976

America

Cathedral

Seashell

Yankee Doodle

1975

Arizona

Oregold

Rose Parade

1974

Bahia

Bonbon

Perfume Delight - ailing tree rose

1973

Electron

Gypsy

Medallion - ailing AARS rescue

1972

Apollo - possibly one of our yellow AARS rescue roses.

Portrait

1971

Aquarius

Command Performance

Redgold

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