San Jose Municipal Rose Garden

I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of my life so when I discovered the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden earlier this month – I was MORE than delighted!!!!!! I love beautiful gardens and who doesn’t love roses!!?! So this was a wonderful discovery for me!!!!

Back when I lived in Oregon – home to Portland a.k.a. the City of Roses – there were rose gardens everywhere and I became obsessed. The Portland Rose Garden is one of the most beautiful places on earth! If you ever get a chance to visit, please do!!! I could visit for hours and still be in awe! And there is a gorgeous Rose Garden in Eugene as well which I visited many times! So when I returned to California after college, I was on the hunt for a good rose garden. I heard there was one in San Jose so I eagerly checked it out. I happened upon the San Jose Heritage Garden and was gravely disappointed. It had roses for sure – but it definitely lacked the beauty of the rose gardens I was used to. It just had dirt everywhere and wasn’t lush or inviting. I gave up on a beautiful Bay Area rose garden after visiting there. (Later I learned that the Heritage Rose garden is more about preserving rose varieties rather than creating a beautiful place – which makes sense!)

Anyway – FINALLY I discovered the real San Jose Rose Garden and it was quite the discovery. The roses there were abundant and were absolutely gorgeous. And the overall park was so lovely!!! There was grass everywhere and a nice central fountain around which all the rose bushes were displayed. It would be great to take a fun picnic there and enjoy an afternoon. I got a few new photos but definitely plan to go back and get more. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these new rose photographs!

Whenever I see a rose – I can’t help but think of Shakespeare’s quote: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” He is so right!!

Anyway – I hope you can get a chance to experience this beautiful garden! Just to ensure you don’t make the same mistake I did and went to the wrong garden, here is the address:

Municipal Rose Garden
Naglee Ave & Dana Ave.
San Jose, CA 95126

Now through fall while roses are in bloom, it definitely is worth a visit!

– Naphtalie JOY Joiner