Selected roses saved to replant in Capaha Park

Renovations on the rose garden in Capaha Park on Monday did get rid of roses left behind by the local garden club, confirmed Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation director Julia Jones, and interested people also have saved roses they wanted to preserve and eventually replant in the new garden.

"The rose garden club had already taken out most of the roses and plants that they cared about saving. And so, we are currently working on site grading in preparation for a renovation of that rose garden," Jones said.

Jones said the roses saved are in the care of those who saved them.

The Southeast Missourian received multiple comments of concern for the well-being of the rosebushes as seen in photos taken Monday of Parks and Recreation employees removing mass amounts of dirt and rosebushes from the rose garden area as part of the Capaha Park Master Plan. A new garden is going to be made in its place with sidewalks complying with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA).

Jones confirmed certain rosebushes were taken out when renovating the garden and the new sidewalks were made in part because of the ADA. She said renovations to the ground are being made to level the garden to be more flat for any disabled visitors.

She said the new garden "will be a real focus on roses, but it will have many other new native grasses, a sensory garden, sculptures, perennials, small plants."

Additionally, she said there will be raised stone beds and the memorial stones will go "back the way it was originally, almost exactly."

Jones said she hopes the infrastructure of the garden will be completed by late spring or early summer, but acknowledges "construction is always weather dependent, and we are not in a great time of year to be second-guessing mother nature."

According to the City of Cape Girardeau's website, the rose garden was established in 1954. In 1955, it was accepted as a nationally accredited Rose Display Garden. It also received the State Achievement Award and the Kelloge Medal for Civic Achievement in 1956. It survives only on the contributions and volunteerism donated by the community, the City of Cape Girardeau Department of Parks and Recreation and the Career and Technology Center.