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Rose Garden History

Brookdale Park Rose Garden History

The Brookdale Park Rose Garden Committee of the MGEC was formed to restore and revitalize the Rose Garden of the Essex County Parks System for the enjoyment of all visitors to Brookdale Park in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

The Brookdale Rose Garden was established in 1959 through a joint effort of the New Jersey Rose Society and the Essex County Parks Department. The Garden grew to include 1,500 rose buses in 29 separate beds.

Because of cutbacks, the County discontinued its paid staff to the garden and the Rose Society stopped their association with the garden. The Garden languished until the newly formed Essex County Master Gardeners (ECMG) under the leadership of Jonathan Forsell took over the care and restoration of the Rose Garden as a community project in 1997.

The ECMG worked with the county parks department and a neighboring block association to replant and maintain many of the existing beds. The work stalled after only a few years and once again the Rose Garden was a garden in name only.

The new Rose Garden Committee was begun by Bob Kroeckel in 2003. We are in fourth year of work in the Brookdale Park Rose Garden.

Our committee have replanted more than 350 rose bushes. More than 25 rose bushes were donations from the community. We use 25 40-lb bags of fertilizer every year. We have ideals of applying 30 yards of mulch each season so we mow less and water more.

Our committee performs a minimum of 15 hours of community service every week at the Rose Garden on Thursdays for eight months of the year. We are most certainly a WORKING GROUP!

We

1. have resurrected every brick that borders every rose bed at least once.

2. do drastic pruning, fertilizing, herbicide application and weeding in early spring.

3. mulch, water, weed whack, and mow the lawns around the beds.

4. dispense information to park passersby and accept thanks and compliments on our work.

5. freeze, sweat, cooperate, complain, disagree, joke, and laugh.

6. never knew working so hard could be so much fun!

Most of all, the Rose Garden committee hopes to continue to improve the beauty of the Brookdale Rose Garden as we learn more about its care.

Contact the Helpline to become a participating member

973 228 2210