The Rose Garden were a somewhat obscure lightweight pop outfit in the late 1960s. They are perhaps best classified as a one hit wonder, with their legacy mostly revolving around the pop anthem Next Plane To London, which reached number 17 on the U.S. pop charts in early 1968.

The Rose Garden started as a teen act in southern California in 1964 which mostly revolved around covers of Beatles songs, among other groups. The group called themselves The Blokes, an anglophilic name which they thought reflected their tendency to play covers of British groups. The group at first consisted of Bruce Bowdin on drums, James Groshing on guitar and vocals, and John Noreen on lead guitar.

By 1965, the group had become big fans of The Byrds, a band that would influence their later sound. To augment their sound, the group needed a bassist, so they recruited Bill Fleming. By the end of 1966, The Blokes were gaining a small following in southern California, and due to this success the group met Diana de Rose, a singer in another band popular in the Los Angeles area at the time. She joined The Blokes in early 1967, bringing with her several acquaintances on the periphery of the recording industry. This was their chance, and they took it.

By mid 1967, Dunhill Records had a song out called February Sunshine, a very flowery song recorded by a group called Giant Sunflower. Giant Sunflower recorded the song for Dunhill without a contract, then proceeded to break up, so when the song began to gain some popularity, Dunhill needed a group for publicity appearances. The Blokes were available and agreed to pose as "Giant Sunflower" for a while, giving the group their first taste of the seedy side of the recording industry.

Through this experience, the group was able to be "discovered" by Atco Records, the label that had "discovered" Sonny and Cher. After a name change sometime in September 1967, the group was given the opportunity to record a single under their own name, and were lucky enough to have in their hands a very well-written song, due to their acquaintance of Kenny O'Dell, the author of the song. One only has to hear the song once to hear the potential it has, so the group tore into it and released their debut single Next Plane To London b/w Flower Power in November 1967 on Atco Records. Next Plane To London was a very interesting recording, using airport announcement style voiceovers ("Next plane to London final boarding in five minutes") and a solid singing performance from Diana de Rose.

Over the next few months, Next Plane To London gradually gained in popularity, reaching the top twenty in February 1968. The group got their first and only real taste of fame about the same time, playing the top clubs in the Los Angeles area and appearing on several West Coast music shows, culminating with an early March 1968 appearance on the nationally syndicated program American Bandstand.

The group turned out a self-titled album in April 1968 that was a moderate success, and as a result toured much of the country with Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Tommy James and the Shondells. By the middle of the year, though, their popularity was waning and a lackluster second single (Here's Today b/w If My World Falls Through) failed to gain much attention at all. This failure, as it does in many bands, drove the group apart, resulting in a breakup by the end of 1968. And there ends the story of The Rose Garden.

A few notes about their lone album, which I own on vinyl (it was this mysterious record that persuaded me to research this writeup): you might initially think the album would be psychedelic in style, given the prevalent sound of the music at the time, but it isn't. It's actually a pretty good straight-up pop and power-pop album. Besides their one hit, the album also contains a very good cover of Bob Dylan's She Belongs To Me and the actual Rose Garden version of February Sunshine, both of which are excellent. It's worth digging out of a used record bin if you come across it.