The Historic Santa Cruz Rose  Garden That  Time Almost Forgot

CALIFORNIA GROWN

Living museum or epic rose garden? You be the judge.

Roses of Yesterday and Today is preserving ancient horticultural history, petal by petal. Quite literally.

This historic Santa Cruz rose garden offers over 230 varieties of old, rare, unusual and selected modern roses to explore and has a celebrity fan club that is as impressive as it gets.

Roses of Yesterday and Today’s rose garden in Santa Cruz County, California is a rose lover’s paradise!

This is Guinivere (Jenny) and Jack Wiley, the gardeners behind Roses of Yesterday & Today.

Hearing their personal tales of the  garden, tapping into their knowledge, and reminiscing about Jack’s childhood  helping his grandmother make the garden’s famous catalogs felt like a privilege that few people get to experience these days.

time line of the rose garen

The rose garden was established by Francis E. Lester in the 1930s.

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1948 to 1957 Will Tillotson was the watchful eye and curator of the rose garden.

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Afterwards, the rose garden was in Dorothy Stemler‘s care until 1976.

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Patricia Stemler Wiley & Newton Wiley, ran Roses of Yesterday for the next 20 years  until they retired.

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Since 1998, Jack Wiley and his wife, Guinivere (Jenny), have cared for the rose garden.

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What time of year is best to visit Roses of Yesterday and Today garden?

While you could visit the rose garden any time of the year, to see the rose garden at its peak it is best to visit during May and June.

What varieties of roses might you see when visiting Roses of Yesterday and Today’s rose garden?

GREEN ROSE

Rosa Chinensis Viridiflora. (1843) To 8 ft. Green. Repeat bloom. Zones 7-10.

HERITAGE ROSE

David Austin. 1984. 4-5 feet. Shell Pink. Fragrant. Repeat bloom. Zones 5-10.