Desert in Bloom

by E. LeRoy Brady,???(R)???AE'?N????e'?N,A+RLA, FASLA, Manager / Chief Landscape Architect

At one of the Desert Southwest's largest rose gardens, nearly 9,000 rose bushes bloom in the desert.

The Rose Garden at Mesa Community College is not only a Mesa landmark but a centerpiece for community, education and innovative economic initiatives in the East Valley. Students, kindergarten through high school and community college through university, use the Rose Garden as botanical laboratories and study areas.

All Landscape Architecture design for the construction of the Rose Garden at Mesa Community College, Mesa, Ariz. has been donated to the community by landscape architect E. LeRoy Brady, FASLA, a member of the Mesa-East Valley Rose Society. The construction and plantings were initiated in 1997, and continue to the present. The Rose Garden at MCC is an excellent example of the unique and outstanding results that can be achieved through one of the Mesa Community College's community partnerships. The garden has been constructed in four phases. Phases' I, II and III, feature walks, terraces for group and outdoor meetings, an artist designed pergola and bus shelter, visual/noise screening walls with rose beds throughout. Phase lll is Veterans' Rose Garden with about 2,000 roses, featuring 57 varieties of roses with military and patriotic names. There are five circles each representing a branch of the military with a flag of that branch.

The Rose Garden at Mesa Community College in Arizona, provides a beautiful setting for students and the public to enjoy our nation's national flower - the rose.

Each circle has the following roses planted in it: Veterans Honor, Honor, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star and World War ll Memorial.

Phase IV planting beds were designed representing the four themes of the rose. Friendship is represented by two parallel beds, not touching; Love, two heart shaped beds; Peace, two circles planted with a contrasting rose defining the peace sign and each has a multi language peace pole; Beauty, a five petal flower each petal with 35 rose bushes and a colorful center.