The City of Eugene Parks and Open Space, along with a group of volunteers planted 240 roses at the Owen Rose Garden on March 26. The new flowers will add more hues and resilience.
Developed Parks Volunteer Coordinator Danielle Klinkebiel says they had to remove the old roses because of disease and bacteria, specifically crown gull, that prevented them from thriving.

“We were seeing was plants that were disfigured. That weren’t growing very well," she said, "they had not the best floral display, not very many blooms , and so we chose to replace them with varieties that are a little bit more disease resilient and a little bit more adapted to this climate.”
Gray’s Garden Center donated 20 different varieties. Klinkebiel said the roses are expected to blossom in June.
“You can come to the rose garden and just see the roses for what they are. They’re beautiful, they smell good, and just seeing all the different colors, it’s a really good reminder in life just to stop and smell the roses," she said.
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