Tour
A Walk Through the Garden
San Jose Heritage Rose Garden Tour Guide
Start your tour in the center of the garden, where the oldest varieties of each class are located. As you explore, note:
- The low-growing miniatures and Polyanthas in the two center rings
- Climbing roses of many classes at the end of each row
- Pillar roses in the middle of many rows
Tour Route
Section O: Old Garden Roses (Southeast Side)
Section O: Old Garden Roses (Southeast Side)
Begin with the Gallicas, Albas, Damasks, Centifolias, Mosses, Spinossissimas, Eglantines, and Species roses. Most of these are once-blooming varieties.
Section P: Portlands, Bourbons, and Hybrid Perpetuals
Continue clockwise to see crosses of once-blooming Old Garden Roses with Chinas, Teas, Musk, and Autumn Damask roses. In the outer rings, you'll find hardy rugosas.
Section K: Chinas and Teas
Proceed to these exotic varieties that brought reblooming to Europe and America at the end of the eighteenth century.
Sections L & M: Floribundas and Hybrid Teas
Continue through the north beds of:
- Older Floribundas (rings 3, 4, and 5)
- Hybrid Teas (outer rings)
- Modern Floribundas (rings 3, 4, and 5)
- More Hybrid Teas (outer rings)
- Species hybrids
- Hybrid Musks
- David Austin's "English Roses" (outer 2 rings)
- Other varieties
Heritage Rose Garden with the Historic Orchard in the Background
Experience the Diversity
Enjoy the amazing variety of types, colors, and forms of roses throughout the garden. Click here to visit a page of pictures showing some of the wide range of roses you'll encounter. Aren't they all magnificent? We encourage you to visit the garden often, as every visit will bring new delights.
Tour Resources
You can download a 9-page PDF 'Tour of Rose History' that will guide you through the garden, explaining all the rose classes and providing a garden example of each.
Rose Identification
Plaques should be installed within a month. The cost is a tax-deductible $50 for the first year and $45 for renewal. These contributions help make the all-volunteer San Jose Heritage Rose Garden a leading rose botanical garden drawing visitors from around the world!
Enjoy the amazing variety of types, colors, and forms of roses throughout the garden. Click here to visit a page of pictures showing some of the wide range of roses you'll encounter. Aren't they all magnificent? We encourage you to visit the garden often, as every visit will bring new delights.
Tour Resources
You can download a 9-page PDF 'Tour of Rose History' that will guide you through the garden, explaining all the rose classes and providing a garden example of each.
Rose Identification
Permanent, engraved plastic plaques are installed throughout the garden. Each includes:
Adopt-a-Rose Program
Plaques can include personal dedications for participants in the "Adopt-a-Rose" program. To have the sentiment of your choice installed in front of "your" rose, call the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy at 408-298-7657 for an application.
- The rose name(s)
- Class
- Hybridizer
- Year of release/discovery
Plaques can include personal dedications for participants in the "Adopt-a-Rose" program. To have the sentiment of your choice installed in front of "your" rose, call the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy at 408-298-7657 for an application.
Plaques should be installed within a month. The cost is a tax-deductible $50 for the first year and $45 for renewal. These contributions help make the all-volunteer San Jose Heritage Rose Garden a leading rose botanical garden drawing visitors from around the world!