San Jose Municipal Rose Garden facts for kids
Quick facts for kids San Jose Municipal Rose Garden |
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SJ Municipal Rose Garden fountain.
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| Type | Rose garden |
| Location | San Jose, California, United States |
| Area | 37 acres (150,000 m2) |
The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden is a beautiful and historic rose garden located in San Jose, California. It's found in a part of the city called the Rose Garden District. This special garden was started in 1927 and is only for roses! It has over 3,500 rose bushes, showing off 189 different kinds of roses.
The All-America Rose Selections (AARS) once called the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden "America's Best Rose Garden." This was a big honor, as it was the first time a garden had won such a national award.
History of the Rose Garden
This lovely garden, which is about 5.5 acres big, wasn't always full of roses. Long ago, it was a farm with prune trees. The city of San Jose bought the land in 1927.
The idea for the garden began on November 20, 1927. That's when the San Jose City Council decided to use 5.5 acres of land for a rose garden. The Santa Clara County Rose Society really wanted this garden to happen. They even gave the first roses for the new garden!
Work on the garden started on April 7, 1931. Six years later, on April 7, 1937, the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden officially opened to the public.
The garden is also a special "Display Garden" for the All-America Rose Selections (AARS). This means it gets to show off new award-winning roses before anyone else sees them!
Awards and Restoration
In the early 2000s, the garden faced some challenges. Money for the city was cut, which affected the garden's care. Because of this, the AARS put the garden on a special "probation" list.
But people didn't give up on the garden! In 2007, a group of volunteers called Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden (FSJRG) was formed. Their goal was to fix up and improve the garden.
Thanks to their hard work, in 2008, the AARS removed the garden from probation. They gave it full approval again! The next year, more than 800 new roses were planted as part of the big restoration project.
On May 2, 2009, the garden was celebrated again as an official AARS test garden. It's one of only 23 in the whole United States, and the only one in Northern California.
The amazing work done to restore the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden was even recognized nationally. On December 15, 2009, it was featured on the Corporation for National and Community Service website.
Then, on August 12, 2010, the AARS named it "America's Best Rose Garden." This was a huge honor! The garden won because of its beauty, creative design, and how much the community helped.
Today, the Municipal Rose Garden is an important historic landmark for the City of San Jose.
