As part of Earth Day celebrations throughout the city, a plan to landscape part of the park with roses and add some additional benches will be unveiled, the first of what garden fans hope will be several improvements in coming years.

Chris York, of Friends of the Oakland Rose Garden, said his group has been working closely with the city's Public Works Department in an effort to not only keep the garden clean and maintained, but create a vision for future projects in the garden.

"We want some input from the community, to find out what people would like to see at the garden," York said.

The first project would be improving the Florentine section of the amphitheater, which is below Oakland Avenue. It calls for replanting an area of juniper bushes that blocked views and compromised the safety of visitors to the garden. Instead, more roses would be planted and linked to a drip-irrigation system. An arc of trees framing the area would be restored, and three benches added.

Councilwoman Pat Kernighan's office provided funds for the initial design of the improvements. York said that the rest of the nearly $10,000, not to mention labor, would likely have to come from the community.

"We're looking for contributions of time and skill and materials," York said. "We might have to use some of the money we raise to pay for qualified professionals, as well."

The rose garden has a lot of friends. In addition to York's group, participants in the restoration effort have come from the Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation, the Grand Lake Grime Busters, the Grand Lake Kiwanis Club, and the Rose Garden Neighborhood Preservation Association.

The first phase of the restoration passed muster before the city's Landmark Commission, which approved it on Monday. It still has to go before the Parks and Recreation Committee before being implemented.