COMING UP ROSES: The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy is again offering its Adopt-A-Rose package at the Heritage Rose Garden as an ideal gift for Valentine’s Day. In addition to a personal message placed on a plaque beside the rose of your choice, the package includes lots of other goodies like a box of Schurra’s chocolates for a $50 donation.

The Heritage Rose Garden on Taylor Street near Coleman Avenue doesn’t get nearly the attention that the Municipal Rose Garden does, even though it contains more than 4,000 roses of 3,200 varieties. Volunteer supervisor David Giroux says some of the varieties date back to the 1500s.

Volunteers work at the garden every Wednesday and Saturday morning, and pruning lessons are being offered at 8:45 a.m. on those days for newcomers.

In a 10/19/12 Business Journal feature, five local architects were asked to “pick their top architectural looks and explain why.”

UC Berkeley Professor Louise Mozingo, who specializes in landscape architecture and environmental planning, selected Guadalupe River Park. According to her, “The best thing in the valley is the Guadalupe River Park. It is a terrific piece of urban ecology and public space. It defines a new zone of mixed-use development that includes high-density office space, civic buildings, and housing, all connected by light rail. At the same time, the seasonal flooding of the river happens as it is supposed to and creates habitat in the middle of the city.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/print-edition/2012/10/18/silicon-valley-architects-pick-their.html

Click here for more info.

There’s a lot here. Among the 15,000 trees, 60,000 ground cover plants, 3,700 varieties of roses, the roving squads of squirrels and salmon, possums and pollywogs, heron and hawks, there are endless possibilities. This is a place where hikers, bikers, gardeners, photographers, birdwatchers, composters and volunteers of all ages, interests and abilities contribute, connect and constantly discover.  Hop on your trusty mouse and let’s take a look.

Picture our friends from Kaiser with their battle cry: Thrive. They are all about how fitness and education contribute to a healthy mind and body. They will post on our blog health tips, ways of wellness and suggestions for making the park your prescription for a balanced lifestyle.

Take a look at that riverbank. See the kids in hip waders? That’s the Children’s Discovery Museum Summer of Service group. They volunteer for the fun stuff, river cleaning, tree planting, engaging kids early on in volunteerism. What better way to get your high school community service credits than by caring for our own natural resources, then contributing their pictures and experiences right here.

Imagine what kind of photos the employees at Adobe could post (we’ll pretend not to notice that they’ve been digitally altered). Adobe folks could post spectacular views of their neighbor, the River Park, from their 17th floor office.  This blog forum hits them where they live, they’ll love highlighting their community involvement and corporate responsibility in a lively, creative format.

Check back often to see scheduled classes and events throughout the park. Here on the blog we’ll be floating fresh posts from our sponsors, the community, project and trail updates and even a kid’s corner.

Just like our park, there’s something in it for everyone!