Friends of the Morcom Rose Garden

Oakland, CA Municipal Rose Garden

Dedicated Deadheaders keep roses blooming — Oakland Tribune

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OAKLAND — Nestled in a canyon in an Oakland neighborhood lies a rare 7-acre oasis of green and multiple shades of rose, the Morcom Rose Garden, a 1930s-era formal garden with winding paths, climbing stairways and lovely fountains and pools. It is home to almost 5,000 rose bushes, and the fact that they all continue to bloom is partly due to a group of volunteers, appropriately named The Dedicated Deadheaders.

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Oakland’s Morcom Rose Garden celebrates 80 years – Oakland Tribune

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The Deadheaders’ Garden Gala, benefiting Oakland’s landmark Morcom Amphitheater of Roses, will be held on a special sneak preview night, March 19, at the Annual San Francisco Flower & Garden Show at the San Mateo Event Center.

Here is your chance to dress up in your finest tie-dye and tuxedos or sequins and dance to the Grateful Dead-style Sycamore Slough String Band while taking in an exclusive view, ahead of the crowds, of the 20 gorgeous international specialty gardens and the 30 small space gardens on display at the event center.

A friends group for the Morcom Rose Garden call themselves “the Deadheaders,” hence the reference to tie-dye and Grateful Dead-style rock ‘n’ roll, said group volunteer Anne Woodell.

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Morcom Rose Garden Featured in New York Times as Oakland Attraction

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Neighboring Berkeley?s rose garden is better known, but maybe that?s because lovers of Oakland?s Morcom Rose Garden want to keep it their little secret. The roses ? an elaborate mix that includes a dark-red Taboo variety and the flamboyantly orange Las Vegas ? reach their fragrant and colorful peak around the middle of May, but Morcom is a quiet urban oasis all year long. Find a spot on one of the garden?s benches or a patch of grass next to the reflecting pool and enjoy the tranquility.

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Morcom Rose Garden Featured in Punk Rock Gardens

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When things are overly stressful, a good shower, a good, nutrition-filled meal, and curling up under a thick blanket ? makes all the difference.

With the help of 35 volunteers and Malibu Compost, 5,000 roses were pampered in just that way.

And the roses thanked everyone by getting their mojo back. Biodynamic compost tea and compost saved an historic garden…

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Local E-Zine writes “Oakland Love: The Morcom Rose Garden”

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Oakland is for lovers. Nothing affirms this more than spring in the Morcom Rose Garden. Sunken in a valley-like amphitheater at 700 Jean st. off of Grand Avenue, the rose garden is a floral oasis amidst the buzz of the city. This past Saturday, while strolling through the rows of well-cultivated and fragrant roses with my girl, we encountered a couple that had met there three years ago to the day (see gallery below). He had been there painting, she stopped to talk, and three years later they were telling us about their pending nuptials…

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Oakland Magazine Features Friends of Morcom Rose Garden in May 2010 Issue

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This month’s Oakland Magazine features an article about the Morcom Rose Garden.  Written by local journalist Wanda Hennig, it features the history of the Dedicated Deadheaders.

“Oakland never promised you a rose garden. But thanks to President Roosevelt?s Depression-era Works Progress Administration initiative and rose lovers at the Oakland Businessmen?s Breakfast Club back in the 1930s, the city got one. It was named for then-mayor Frank Morcom. Now, due in no small part to the passion of Oakland Public Works Agency garden crew leader Tora Rocha, the Morcom Rose Garden, which had lost its bloom along with its All American Rose Selection, or AARS, accreditation, is back to its glory days.”

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