Posted in the San Francisco Chronicle
on Wednesday, April 24, 2002
By Alice Joyce

A rose by any other name would be Morcom.

The Morcom Amphitheater of Roses in Oakland reaches an annual crescendo of bloom in May, heralding Mother's Day.

Constructed in 1934 as a project of the Works Progress Administration and named for a onetime mayor of Oakland, this gem of a garden still boasts the original landscape and picturesque Iay out designed by landscape architect Arthur Cobbledick.

The East Bay's blessedly long blooming season results in a fragrant oasis spanning early spring to late autumn, while the garden's Italianate design sets the scene for year-round diversions.

Visitors pass through the dual wings of a columned arcade, that is portal to a formal configuration of paths, pools and planting beds accommodating thousands of modem hybrid tea roses,

Once inside the classical gateway, the breadth of the garden's 4-acre geometry is revealed. Lining the entry walkway, floriferous hybrid teas follow a pattern of rich red varieties melding into a gradation of hues that become tighter approaching a large pool. The thematic planting carries over, surrounding the pool area with roses in a spectrum from ruby red to peach to parchment and white.

The historic Mother's Walk is positioned between the pool and the Florentine area, situated along the garden's far western boundary. Plaques set into the ground commemorate honorees for Oakland's Mother of the Year, a festivity celebrated at the Morcom Rose Garden for half a century.

Fragrant, showy roses are massed along side to accentuate the Mother's Walk. With fiery toned, ruffled petals and cream-colored edges, 'Double Delight' stands out. 'Fragrant Cloud' is a coral rose beloved by aficionados, but evidently not a favorite of rosarian Peter Schneider, who once wrote he found its heavy scent to be "distressingly similar to that of turpentine."

Heritage roses thrive within the circular framework of the Florentine garden, a perimeter area planted with tea roses, noisettes and polyanthas that bloom twice a year. A vivacious jumble of colors sets this section off from the color scheme employed throughout the garden as a whole.

Accredited by the All-American Rose Selections, a national organization involved in testing roses, Morcom counts among gardens across the country selected to test new rose varieties. David Skinner, a district supervisor with the Oakland Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs says each year the AARS sends the garden new rose bushes that will appear at plant nurseries the following season. "When they come on market, they are already growing at Morcom" So before the roses "hit the market, people can come and see what the colors look Iike, instead of relying on magazine or catalog photos.” Most roses are identified by Iabels.

Currently the rose garden is maintained by one head gardener, Rene Batoon. Batoon confides that in 1929 the Morcom site was "a gorge used as a dumping ground until the city filled it with dirt and this variety.

With its pleasing sense of proportion, the garden's Renaissance motif is structured around a dominant cross axis defined by a broad staircase leading to a raised area to the left of the pool.

Ascend the stairs, passing fountains and a cascade of rushing water and you reach the elevated position and commanding views of the Wedding Terrance, an open-air veranda rimmed by a deep green backdrop of Italian stone pines.

The terrace is a poplar place for wedding from the second week in May through the end of October. Decorating the way up to the terrace are romantic, softly colored floribunda roses. A hardly, free-flowering character distinguishes floribundas as a group, along with the marked attribute of blooming in clusters.

Tall-growing ‘Sally Holmes’ roses flank the entrance to the wedding site. Batoon is enthusiastic about the form and coloration of this variety. Growing without a trellis, he says, the bushes reach 10 feet in height and produce long, elegant, arching canes. Semi-double flowers begin as pale yellow to apricot buds, opening to a blushed beige when middle-aged; lastly, the blooms turn white.

The City of Oakland has a policy of "no pesticides, " so the garden employs no sprays or herbicides to control weeds, pests or diseases.

Batoon offers an analogy, comparing people to roses "People should know they don't need to spray with insecticides. When we eat good, nutritious food, we are healthy and don't need to see the doctor. Roses are the same. If they are thirsty and starving " he says, "they get sick and don't have the strength to resist invaders. "

Batoon feeds the roses regularIy with fertilizer. In terms of a pruning regimen, he says over the years he discovered roses pruned by mid-December are better performers. "They bloom better and are more vigorous."

Public pruning demonstrations take place at the garden every year, scheduled on either the third or fourth Saturday of the New Year. The demo takes place in conjunction with the East Bay Rose Society and the City of Oakland.