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Seventy-five Knockout Rose bushes now line the northwest corner of Bangs and Main avenues, where overgrown shrubs once hid the century-old Asbury Park Post Office building from passers-by.

About 20 members of the Asbury Park Environment and Shade Tree Commission [ESTC] planted the bushes Saturday in an effort that took less than an hour to undertake.

“Many hands make light work,” said Tom Pivinski, ESTC chair, who guided the volunteers through the process of digging holes and placing the bushes.

The rose bushes came through a donation provided by Asbury Park resident Daniel Weiss, whose larger vision is not only to see various parts of the city continue to be beautified, but to have people from diverse backgrounds, ages and lifestyles take part in the beautification effort, side-by-side.

On Saturday morning, that vision was realized.

Volunteers’ ages ranged from 12 to 72. Some of the participants recently moved to Asbury Park while others lived in the city for decades. Some identified as being homosexual, others heterosexual. People from Tortola, Haiti, Mexico and Peru took up shovels and got their hands dirty; some were immigrants to the country and others natives.

“This is ‘Dancing in Jaffa’,” Weiss said, a reference to a documentary film that tells the story of renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine’s program that brought 10-year-old Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli children together to competitively dance as a team. The film had a recent run at Asbury Park’s ShowRoom Cinema.

“I want to being people together in a civic, volunteer sense,” said Weiss. “That half hour of work can be a part of their fabric and experience with the city.”

Asbury Park Middle School student Zahier Kenney, 12, [shown below, in center, with Weiss at left and Pivinski at right] was the youngest volunteer in the group. He happened to be walking past and members of the ESTC called him over to see if he would like to assist with the effort, so he did.

“I thought it would be nice to help,” he said, after he placed a second rose bush in the ground.

Kenney gave his email contact information to Pivinski so he could to be placed on the ESTC mailing list for future updates and events.

Pivinski and Weiss chose the Knockouts because they are hearty, require minimal upkeep, and will bloom into November, Pivinski said. The bushes were purchased from Sunset Farms, located in nearby Ocean Township, he said.

“They are like a self-cleaning oven,” said Weiss.

Post office workers marveled at the transformation.

“I think it looks absolutely beautiful,” said Jill Gray, district post office manager.

“It’s spectacular,” said Jane Ivins, who has worked in the Asbury Park Post Office’s maintenance department for the past eight years. Ivins said the department had the old shrubs cut down to try to encourage healthy growth a few years ago, but they just  never grew back the way they wanted.  A volunteer from the city’s public works department donated his time, and the city a backhoe, to help with the removal of the old old pyracanthus shrubs last week.

Built in 1911, the 103-year-old structure maintains its original Terra-cotta roof tiles, said Ivins. No drainage spouts exist on the exterior of the structure, instead copper pipes were placed inside of the walls to preserve the value of the building’s aesthetic, she said.

“The building deserves [the beautification] — it really does,” she said.

The bushes will be allowed to grow however they want over the next two years or so before they will be trimmed, Pivinski said.

“Thank goodness for the ESTC, Sunset Gardens and the volunteer Asbury Park employees,” Weiss said. “It takes a village!

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