SAN JOSE HERITAGE ROSE GARDEN

The Latest from the Heritage!

This page is updated from time to time to let you know what's up in the garden. 

Mel Hulse, Garden Maintenance Director

Garden Report, MidWinter 2006

The year of unusual weather seems to have settled down through this past fall and winter. The weather turned cold during December which has helped our roses lapse into the greatest dormancy yet. Since then, we have had adequate cold rain interspersed with record warm days.

Pruning of China, Teas and Modern roses is complete. Reblooming OGRs and shrub pruning is in progress.
Rose planting is the order of the day! 21 climbers have been planted in empty spaces on the Santa Clara University fence. Only another 20 or so climbers to go to fill all 270 places! All of the Regan bush donations are planted along with others in the Nursery. Planting of those bushes of size is in progress.

Plaque planting has picked up as Bellarmine High students assembled plaques from previously produced engravings.

We still don’t have a handle on what causes the disease that has caused so many plants to die. The soil test at several locations revealed that our soil pH is high. We have stopped using slow release fertilizer with minors for a few years and have started applying ammonium sulfate to reduce the pH and give the plants a nitrogen jolt. We are not concerned about minors as we have been feeding them into the soil for 10 years and they are adequate in our soil. The Ammonium Sulfate solution is labor intensive in that it is applied by hand and watered. Two rounds of the garden have been completed. We will now begin applying a balanced granular fertilizer (15 – 15 – 15 + with 20% sulfur) each 3 months. We hope that this will improve the garden’s health, although the increased nitrogen may increase foliage growth at the expense of bloom.

The Heritage Nursery. The nursery now has space since we’ve been planting. We now need to identify roses at nurseries that we can obtain at the lowest price.

Workdays. Workdays are Wednesdays and Saturdays, starting 9 - 12.  Bring a hat, bypass shears and leather gloves if you have them. We'll show you how! Its “SNACK and YACK” time in the Visitors Center or in the garden as weather permits on Wednesdays after the workday. But, most of all, COME and work in the roses for as long as you enjoy it.

Mel Hulse, February, 2006

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Links to past status pages:

Summer 2005

December 2004

June 2004

March 2004

Year End 2003

Late Summer 2003

Winter's End 2003

Late Fall 2002

Fall 2002

Summer 2002

Spring 2002

Winter 2002

Early Fall 2001

Spring 2001

Winter 2001

Late Fall 2000

Fall 2000

Spring 2000

Late Winter 2000

Early Winter 2000

Fall 1999 Status

June 1999 Status:

October 1998 Status:

September 1998 Status:

June 1998 Status

May 1998 Status:

April 1998 Status:

March 1998 Status:

This page was last updated on 01/24/07.

Address comments to Mel Hulse