The Gardens of San Quentin, 1921, "The Garden Beautiful"

The Garden Magazine, September 1921

I ran into a reference about the gardens of San Quentin in a history of George C. Roeding who died in 1928.

In 1921, "The Garden Beautiful was the idea of a prisoner Pat Tyrone as he was nicknamed who is now free to enjoy the flowers outside. His name has been adopted for every head gardener Roman numerals being added so Pat Tyrone III is now directing this unique garden. Every plant grown has been donated by flower lovers. The members of the Dahlia Society of California each year send a gift box of their best and newest and last spring an appeal was made to the American Dahlia Society members who responded liberally." (p. 197)

"The Garden Beautiful Within Prison Walls",
The Garden Magazine, vol. 34, September, 1921

The Marin Rose, May 2012 (no longer online?)
"Softening the Heartscape: Roses in Prison"

Excerpts from the Rose Letter "San Quentin: The Garden Beautiful; SOFTENING THE HEARTSCAPE: ROSES IN PRISON" Darrell g.h. Schramm

"In 1989, a group of rose lovers became aware of roses still growing on this now touristic rock, roses that had been unable to escape prison but had nonetheless survived on their own. Guided by rangers, this group of nineteen people—Miriam Wilkins, Bill Grant, Don Gers, Muriel Huminick, and Gregg Lowery among them—descended upon the island."

"Among the roses found here were: "Rosa wichurana, ‘Gloire des Rosomanes’, ‘Felicite Perpetue’, ‘Russelliana’, ‘General MacArthur’, and one thought long vanished, ‘Bardou Job’. The ramblers ‘Dorothy Perkins’ 3 and ‘Excelsa’, Gregg Lowery told me, “were everywhere.” Apparently for these roses, to be sentenced to Alcatraz meant to decorate it."

"In February of 1919, Fred H. Howard, one of the most prominent rose growers at the time and owner of Howard & Smith Company, volunteered to support the prison’s efforts. Indeed, all plants in The Garden Beautiful were donated."

"Among the major contributors, and a generous one at that, was George C. Roeding (1868-1923), a leading nurseryman who by that time owned one of the largest nurseries in the state, California Nursery Company, which he had bought in 1917 and incorporated within it his earlier nurseries Fancher Creek and Fresno Nursery Company. 

Until his death, Roeding supplied roses and other garden plants each year. Roeding believed the prison garden enterprise to be a “helping hand to the unfortunate; this to be accomplished by providing an avenue that will change the derelict from a pessimist to an optimist; that will convert the down-and-outer into a useful member of society; to create courage in place of despair, to repair a lost manhood and give it the character and stability that will command respect.” Clearly, Roeding believed in the power of roses and the influence of the garden. Most of Roeding’s friends and acquaintances did not know that his interest in prisoners went beyond the walls of the prison garden. Quietly, for a number of years, he employed ex-convicts in his various fields and nursery grounds."

From GCR's biography

"As early as February 18, 1919, Mr. Fred H. Howard, California's leading rose breeder, wrote as follows, showing vision and initiative: "In reading over your letter carefully, as I have done, the thought has occurred to me that I am in a position whereby, through the influence of our firm, etc., I might be able not only to augment your efforts at San Quentin, but also to create, at the same time, a similar exploitation of gardens, and the pleasure they bring, in other institutions of like character throughout the entire United States." The roster of the club, even at that early date, showed a contributing membership of half a dozen nurserymen and some fifteen bulb and seed growers." 

What club? From the California Nurserymen Association?

References

• Where The First Peniteniary “Garden Beautiful” Was Started Fresno Evening Herald, Volume LXII, Number 66, 16 September 1920
• Famous Florist Was a Graduate of San Quentin
• Convict's Name is Famous at Prison Colusa Daily Sun, Number 29, 4 February 1922
• Go, Lovely Rose about Fred Howard
• California Nursery Company, 1917-1928
• "The Garden Beautiful Within Prison Walls", The Garden Magazine, vol. 34, September, 1921
• The Marin Rose, May 2012,"Softening the Heartscape: Roses in Prison" now unavailable, but reprinted in the Rose Letter 
• Howard & Smith catalog, 1913. Howard & Smith provided plants as well as the California Nursery Company. H&S was in Los Angeles.
• George Christian Roeding, 1868-1928: The Story of California's Leading Nurseryman and Fruit Grower, See Chapter IX Prison Gardens