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Free up your Saturdays — it’s cemetery rose pruning season!
Opened in 1859, the Historic Union Cemetery of Redwood City is hosting its annual rose pruning event every Saturday at 10 a.m. until mid-February.
Members of the public are invited to volunteer to help maintain the vital landscape of one of the oldest burial grounds in San Mateo County, located at 316 Woodside Road.
“Many of the roses were planted by ‘residents’ families when burials took place, some in the late 1800s,” said Kathy Klebe, the president of the Historic Union Cemetery Association. “If you don’t prune them, they don’t thrive quite as well.”
Of the over 300 rose bushes that adorn the six-acre lot, many are of the heritage variety, which are typically large, bushy and highly fragrant. They often bloom once per season, which makes maintenance especially important.
Just shy of a dozen folks showed up Jan. 10 to get down and dirty, like Robert Miller of Belmont.
A member of the cemetery association for five years, he’d consider himself an avid history junkie and part of the fabric of the local history himself, growing up in a house once used for oyster fishing in the San Francisco Bay.
He jerry-rigged his phone to the chain-link fence beside the rose bush he was fixing to enhance his gardening with classical music. While he wouldn’t consider himself a pro-gardener, he said his one job is to make sure “you can’t kill them.”
Folks who are competent pruners are invited to come help whenever they want, the president of the Historic Union Cemetery Association said. Those who aren’t should come on Saturdays, ready to learn.
Another participant, Thom Lippitt, who lived in Redwood City for a quarter of a century, came with his wife and giant husky German shepherd, who could be found sunbathing and sniffing around at the cemetery.
Lippitt considers himself a competent gardener, having planted dozens of trees for pleasure, exercise, and beautification. He’s attended the cemetery landscaping events for years.
During the Jan. 11 pruning event, roughly a dozen folks could be found at the northeast edge of the lot, deconstructing 180 wreaths that adorned union soldiers’ graves in honor of Veterans Day. Attendees included members of the Young Men’s Service League, a national community service nonprofit for moms and their teen sons.
The Historic Union Cemetery regularly hosts various events, including a “special” Valentine’s Day tour on Feb. 14, according to its website. All cemetery tours are free and held on Saturdays at 10 a.m. in 2026. To learn more, visit the Union Cemetery’s website.
