Soquel’s James and Judy Sauve share their green thumbs with public
By Jon Chown
Stop and smell the roses. Most people do now when strolling through the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds and that is partly due to the efforts of Soquel residents James and Judy Sauve.
It’s been a little more than five years since the new rose garden was installed at the fairgrounds. The beautiful garden, a narrow, long path that overlooks the horse show ring, is a popular attraction and still new enough that some people don’t even realize it’s there. And it almost wasn’t.
“Six years ago, when the fairgrounds was in dire financial straits, the thought was to just plow this under. It was in terrible shape. So the Rose Society was approached; it’s been a group effort ever since,” James Sauve said.
As beautiful as it is, the garden still sometimes goes unnoticed by people walking by, but less and less often. Judy Sauve said those people who wandered over from the livestock auction seemed surprised the garden was there. “When did this get here?” she said one person asked, but many others noted how much they loved and looked forward to seeing it.
“It gets more visitors every year during fair time,” said Judy. “We had a lot of people visit it during this year’s fair; some said it was their favorite thing to see.”
James is the president of the Monterey Bay Rose Society and Judy is the club’s treasurer. They have about 100 roses at their home on Chris Court in Soquel and then take care of the 196 rose bushes at the fairgrounds. She works at Davis Auto Parts, he works at Marino’s Machine Shop and both use most lunch hours to work in the garden.
“We don’t have much time for anything else,” Judy said.
Judy grew up in Watsonville and James grew up in Santa Cruz. It’s the second marriage for both of them. They moved to Soquel in 1988 and joined the Rose Society in 1998. They said they like the peacefulness of Soquel. Jim said the couple’s interest in roses grew because his father-in-law would often give them rose bushes for gifts.
Of all the roses at the fairgrounds, Judy said her favorite is the Iconic Lemonade, a yellow rose with a reddish-pink center.
“It has a nice fragrance and it’s very pretty,” Judy said.
James said his favorite is a rose he has at home called Stainless Steel. He plans to bring a cutting to the fairgrounds in the future.
The two said about 10 volunteers from the Rose Society help keep the garden beautiful. The garden is open daily all year.
“We consistently have about 10 volunteers, but our society is getting older. We are looking for new, young blood,” Judy said.
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To learn more about the Monterey Bay Rose Society, go online at www.montereybayrosesociety.org or email James Sauve at [email protected].