A pruning party in San Jose

It occurs to me that there should be more city rose gardens in our country. Can I get an Amen! to that? Public gardens that put hundreds and even thousands of beautiful, blooming roses on display are a source of pride for the citizens of the town and an attraction for tourists. Unfortunately, great ideas are often followed by skeptical thoughts. Who will pay for it, who will do the work, who will follow through on maintenance? I suppose the answer to those questions is the citizens, you and me. Well, gee, how can two people do all the work that a public garden requires? Just take a look at how the citizens of San Jose, California do it. I think they can put to rest all of our skepticism. Anyone game for taking the plunge in your town?

Thank you, Terry Reilly, Co-Founder of the Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden, for sending me the link to this pruning video after my original post of the aerial garden tour video. Now I am excited to be able to edit this post, because you have followed up with another email with this kind message:

 Hi Sherry,

People often wonder how we were able to set up a vibrant organization like the Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden.  Well, the All-America Rose Selections wrote a case study on us.  It reveals all of our secrets! You might want to share it with your friends.

Click HERE to view the case study.

Terry went on to say: 

In addition, people may be interested in a great volunteer tracking software that was developed on our original tracking concept.  It's free and is great to keep the volunteers engaged.

You can see it HERE.

You can also check out the website of Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden by going HERE.

I am incredibly thrilled that this post has become a conduit of this valuable information. Once again, rosarians - and that means you, Terry - have proven themselves to be the definition of generosity.

Now boarding for the rose flight

This is the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose, California. I'm sad to say that I've never been there, but the folks in and around San Jose have a real gem.  Restored in 2009 and maintained with the help of volunteers, it is also a trial garden for new rose varieties. I've seen many "glamor shots" of individual rose blooms taken in this garden by GardenWeb rose friends, but I had no idea what a beautiful garden it is and that it was named "America's Best Rose Garden" on August 12, 2010.

Thanks to Facebook, I now know about this wonderful rose garden, but little did I know when I clicked on the link that I would be taken on a very cool hexacopter ride and an exhilarating birdseye tour, complete with orchestral accompaniment. In the first seconds I recognized the radio-controlled six-bladed helicopter and stuck my netbook under DH's nose. He's really into aerial photography and RC, and this video held his attention for the whole 12 minutes and 42 seconds. I just know you will enjoy it, too. And if you're ever in Silicon Valley, be sure to treat yourself to this fabulous garden.