ROSE GARDEN TO GET FACE-LIFT
City removes several diseased pear trees; gingkos, Chinese fringe and Schmidt oak trees will be replanted around the historic garden
SAN JOSE >> Bordering the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden were once breathtaking aristocrat pear trees that bloomed into a shock of white flowers in the spring.
But in recent years, the branches have blackened and leaves and blooms wilted as if singed by fire, caused by a destructive bacterial disease called fire blight, which is named after the burnt appearance it gives afflicted trees.
Parks department crews Saturday began felling the remaining rows of dying trees around the Rose Garden to make way for gingkos, Chinese fringe and Schmidt oak trees that will be replanted around the historic garden.
The city began removing the trees late last year and says it will complete the replanting by April, in time for visitors to celebrate Mother’s Day at the Rose Garden on May 12.
“They were beautiful all those years,” said Mark Kenter, 65, who grew up on Emory Street next to the garden and has lived there for much of the past 60 years. “Nobody likes to see a tree die, but this is a life cycle that I think had to happen.”
The Rose Garden, which opened in 1937, is a 5.5-acre park with 4,000 rose bushes of 189 varieties. The garden is maintained by the city, although a decade ago, a group of volunteers stepped up to begin actively pruning the garden after budget cutbacks caused the park’s condition to decline.
The aristocrat pear trees, which were planted in 1996 with the help of neighborhood volunteers, generally have a 30-year life span, meaning they would have had to be replaced soon, said Jeff Gomez, parks facility supervisor.
Fire blight began appearing in the past decade and worsened in the past few years, Gomez said.
Diseased trees can be chemically treated, but the treatment is expensive and removing the diseased wood can be time-consuming, as tools need to be sanitized between cuts to prevent the bacteria from spreading, Gomez said.
The new trees, selected with community input by city arborist Russell Hansen, will be more resistant to diseases and generally have a life span of 40 to 100 years, said parks manager Torie O’Reilly.
Gingko trees, which have fan-shaped yellow leaves, will be planted along Naglee Avenue, while Chinese fringe trees, which look similar to the pear trees, will border the three other sides of the garden.
Schmidt oak trees will be placed at each corner as “buffers,” said Gomez, to prevent diseases from jumping from one row of fringe trees to the next.
Workers will continue cutting down trees next weekend, and the tree stumps will be removed in coming weeks, Gomez said. The new trees will be 3 to 5 years old and will take some time to grow in.
The dying pear trees are also on sidewalks in the Rose Garden neighborhood, although homeowners are responsible for removing and replacing them. Homeowners will need to apply for a permit before removing trees and can plant tree varieties approved by the city.
As crews worked on cutting down the trees Saturday morning, a small group of hobbyist woodworkers waited nearby to salvage the felled trees before they were fed into a wood chipper.
Dennis Lillis, a member of the Silicon Valley Woodturners, said the close, dense grain of the pear trees makes it easy to handle and is good for detailed wood carving.
“You can pretty much do anything with this wood,” Lillis said.
So, the life cycle goes on: Lillis said he and other hobbyists will turn the wood into anything from sculptures to salad bowls.