News and Events
Welcome!
In 2026, the Fort Vancouver Rose Society will be enjoying its 73rd year of growing and celebrating the rose. All are WELCOMED to attend meetings and events as described below. In 2025, the Fort Vancouver Rose Society was very proud to have collaborated with the Friends of Fort Vancouver in the 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. We are looking forward to hearing from Consulting Rosarian Jim Wolford (Fort Vancouver Rose Society and Portland Rose Society) on "Do's and Don'ts in the Rose Garden."
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!
LEARN TO PRUNE!
Consulting Rosarians Jim Swenson and Louis Rossetto completed the 2025 Rose Care Seminars. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with these businesses, devoted to offering the best products for us to use in our gardens.
Consulting Rosarian Leslie Mowers, who is also our CR Member-at-Large on the 2026 FVRS Board, will spearhead this effort in 2026. Watch for announcements regarding Spring 2026 seminars.
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. Watch this webpage for the dates of our spring workdays ... to be scheduled soon!
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: (to be announced)
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 (2026 show hours to be announced).
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.
