News and Events
Welcome!
In 2025, the Fort Vancouver Rose Society will be enjoying its 72nd year of growing and celebrating the rose. All are WELCOME to our meetings and events as described below. AND, the Fort Vancouver Rose Society is very proud to have collaborated with the Friends of Fort Vancouver in this year's 2025 FVRS Rose Show: 200 YEARS OF ROSES AT THE FORT. The show was our 70th annual and was held Saturday, June 28, 2025, in the Exhibition Hall at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds. This was a new location for the show, and it proved to be an excellent choice! Working with the Clark County Event Center staff and also with the Friends of Fort Vancouver (our namesake) was a most enjoyable experience.
NEXT MEETING: Thursday, February 5: The next meeting of the Society will be its first in 2026. Our FVRS Board will meet in January to determine the programming for February and the meeting months thereafter. Watch this space for the February program details ... and have a wonderful end-of-year 2025!
FVRS General Membership meetings take place February-June and September-December at 7 p.m. in the Parish Hall at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Vancouver. The public is ALWAYS WELCOMED to attend!
ANNUAL MEETING: The annual holiday dinner meeting of the Society took place Thursday, December 4, at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Vancouver. Members of the 2026 FVRS Board were installed, and chairs of various committees were appointed.
After a delicious meal, the Board member installation and chair appointments, the presentation of two 2025 Volunteer of the Year awards (congratulations Nathan Day and Cheryl Giddings), FVRS members and their guests enjoyed a brief program presentation by Jim and Detra Swenson on the symbolic meaning of roses. We learned a rose color can symbolize romance and passion, sympathy and compassion, cheerfulness and joy, friendship and kindness and so much more.
Thank you to Jim and Detra for their insightful presentation. Many thanks also to the wonderful FVRS members who organized and conducted the holiday dinner meeting, including the arrangers of the beautifully creative holiday centerpieces.
FVRS at 2025 Camas Plant & Garden Fair: FVRS had a booth at the 26th Annual Camas Plant & Garden Fair on Saturday, May 10 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It was our second year to promote FVRS at this wonderful community fair. FVRS members Mike Giddings and David Goggin spearheaded our efforts to promote the Society. Thank you to everyone who helped set up, "people" and take down the FVRS booth. Each of you were excellent representatives of the Fort Vancouver Rose Society!
ARRANGEMENT WORKSHOPS
We were pleased to, once again, provide Arrangement Workshops in 2025 to the FVRS membership and the public. Arrangements Chair Julie Goggin held the first workshop of 2025 on Wednesday, February 5, with subsequent monthly workshops taking place the first Wednesday in each month through June. The first workshop in 2026 will be announced soon... watch this space!
Julie has spearheaded this effort in our society to teach floral arranging with our beloved roses. She has sparked the creative talent in many and given confidence to her workshop participants, many of whom exhibited at both last year's and this year's annual rose show in June. Arrangements by workshop participants are also enjoyed at monthly membership meetings.
The many beautiful arrangements at the 2025 Rose Show further proved both the interest and creative talent of workshop participants, many of whom won awards at the show.
THANK YOU to all the workshop participants who create beautiful arrangements for our meetings and competitions.
LEARN TO PRUNE!
Consulting Rosarian Co-Members-at-Large Jim Swenson and Louis Rossetto have completed the Rose Care Seminars scheduled for 2025. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with these businesses, devoted to offering the best products for us to use in our gardens.
Rose Care Seminars - Spring 2025:
DONE! Saturday, February 22, at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Yard 'n Garden Land
1501 NE 102nd Street, Vancouver 98686
DONE! Saturday, February 22, at 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Tsugawa Nursery & Greenhouse
410 E. Scott Avenue, Woodland 98674
DONE! Saturday, March 1, at 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Dennis' 7 Dees
10006 Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver 98664
COMMUNITY PARK WORKDAYS
FVRS held its first workday of 2025 at the Esther Short Park Rose Garden on Friday, March 7, at 9 a.m. FVRS helps to maintain this community garden as well as the rose garden at the Covington House. We do this for the city for the enjoyment of its citizens. Additional workdays have been held since toward getting the garden ready for the growing season.
The public is always welcomed at our workdays. Just show up at the next workday with your questions and pruners. YOU WILL LEARN ALOT about pruning and deadheading roses if you participate... don't miss this valuable learning experience!
The following dates and times are scheduled for the next workdays at the Esther Short Park Rose Garden:
DONE! Friday, August 22, at 8 a.m.
DONE! Friday, October 10, at 9 a.m.
DONE! Tuesday, November 11 (Veterans Day) at 9 a.m.
We thank ALL OUR WORKDAY VOLUNTEERS as many hands make light work.
ROSE SHOW INFORMATION: Until the next rose show date, time and location are determined, interested exhibitors will find the downloadable 2025 FVRS EXHIBITOR Rose Show General Instructions attached below. The next book will, of course, be revised with details of the 2026 show, but we have left the 2025 book on this webpage so that it can be reviewed for how the FVRS organizes its color-class show. The General Instructions are for the Horticulture, the Artistic Design and the Photography sections of the show.
NEXT ANNUAL ROSE SHOW
When: May 30, 2026
Theme: A Rosy Affair
Location: Exhibition Hall at the Clark County Event Center
Free and open to the public, the Fort Vancouver Rose Society rose show features competitors from throughout the Pacific northwest who grow their roses at home. New rose growers are welcomed and encouraged to participate! Members of the Fort Vancouver Rose Society are available to help new competitors.
FREE ADMISSION - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC DURING SHOW HOURS
Show Hours: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
SHOW SCHEDULE
Horticulture & Arrangement Entries ............……………........................ 7:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.
Photography Entries................................................................................. 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
Hospitality ...……………................................................................................ 8:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.
Photography Judging................................................................................. 9:00 a.m.
Judging/Clerk Instruction ……………………………....................................... 10:30 a.m.
Judging .........….……...………………….………………............................................ 11:00 a.m.
Luncheon ...………………………….…………....................................................... 12:30 p.m.
Show Hours ...………………...…..................................................................... 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Awards Ceremony ...…………………….…..............................………............... 3:00 p.m.
Removal of Arrangements/Tags...……...................................……………. 4:00 p.m.
Show Breakdown .........…………………………………...................................... 4:30 p.m.
EXHIBITORS:
The FVRS EXHIBITOR Rose Show Book focuses on information of interest to just the exhibitor. On the day of the next rose show, the Society will provide a dedicated FVRS VISITOR Rose Show Book to all the visitors who arrive during our show hours of 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The FVRS EXHIBITOR Rose Show Book includes General Instructions for the Horticulture, the Artistic Design and the Photography sections of the show. If there are any differences between the FVRS EXHIBITOR Rose Show Book PDF file website file (below) and the hard copy distributed at the show, the hard copy will be the official book.
