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Join us as we go for a tour of the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, a historic landmark park first opened in 1937.
The 5½-acre park boasts 4,000 rose bushes in 189 varieties. The garden was designed in the early 1930s by famed architect John McLaren, who also designed San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
In 2010, the garden was named “America’s Best Rose Garden” by the All-America Rose Selections, a nonprofit association of rose growers; it beat out more than 130 public rose gardens nationwide.
The Municipal Rose Garden is actually one of two rose gardens in San Jose. The Heritage Rose Garden, located at Guadalupe River Park, is less than three miles away and includes a collection of 4,000 roses representing more than 3,000 rare, endangered or “found” varieties.
Officially opened on Sept. 9, 1995, the Heritage Rose Garden was initially planted by more than 750 volunteers in March of that year. Volunteers continue to propagate, plant, fertilize, prune, weed, catalog and care for the flowers. The garden was made possible through a combined effort by the city of San Jose, the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, the South Bay Heritage Rose Group and a group of volunteers.
The Heritage Rose Garden was the first inductee into the Great Rosarians of the World Rose Garden Hall of Fame.
Learn more about the Municipal Rose Garden at the city’s website.
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: People take photos of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Sunlight illuminates one of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Some of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: The Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Some of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: A rose bulb at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Sunlight hits some of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: The Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: The fountain at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: One of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: People take photos at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Some of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Sunlight illuminates one of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: People take photos at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Sunlight leaks through a cluster of roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: One of the rose arches at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: People walk around the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Some of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Sunlight hits a group of roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Some of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Some of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: People walk around the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group Archives
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: Some of the roses at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE - APRIL 27: The Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
