News and Events

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:  WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4:   Due to Lenten observances at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, our usual first Thursday meeting for March 2026 will instead be on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4.  This meeting will be our ANNUAL ROSE AUCTION to benefit the 2026 Rose Show!  Join us at 7 p.m. to bid on the marvelous roses that will be available: hybrid teas, floribundas, miniature roses... and more!  The auction is always a fun time of back-and-forth bidding amongst members and visitors.  Everyone is welcomed to bid and win a lovely new rose (or two! or three!) for their gardens.

     To donate a rose for the auction, contact Louis or Sally Rossetto via the FVRS email address at fortvancouverrosesociety@gmail.com.  Email by February 24 and thank you so much for your generosity!

     The auction evening also features a Pot of Gold 50/50 Drawing ... participate and you may win half the money collected (the other half goes toward the 2026 Rose Show).

     Doors open at 6 p.m. to view the roses to be auctioned and participate in the Pot of Gold 50/50 Drawing with the auction starting at 7 p.m.  Again, as always, the auction and all FVRS meetings are open to the public.  See you there 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 2026 Camas Plant & Garden Fair:  FVRS will again have a booth at the annual Camas Plant & Garden Fair on Saturday, May 9 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  This will be our third year, promoting FVRS at this wonderful community fair.  Watch this space for updates as organizers work on booth activities and call for volunteers to help setup, run the booth and cleanup.

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.  See below for the schedule of spring 2026 seminars:

Rose Care Seminars - 2026:

     DONE!  Sunday, February 22, at 12:30 p.m. at Tsugawa Nursery

          410 E. Scott Avenue, Woodland 98674

     DONE!  Saturday, February 28, at 10 a.m. at Yard 'n Garden Land

          1501 NE 102nd Street, Vancouver 98686

     Saturday, March 7, at 11 a.m. at Dennis' 7 Dees

          10006 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver 98664

     Saturday, April 18, from 11 a.m. to 12 noon at Tsugawa Nursery (see note)

          410 E. Scott Avenue, Woodland 98674

          *NOTE:  Seminar is part of Tsugawa Nursery 45th Anniversary celebration

COMMUNITY ROSE GARDENS WORKDAYS

     FVRS will have its first workday in the community gardens on Wednesday, March 11, starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Esther Short Park Rose Garden ... then the group will move to spring prune the rose garden at The Covington House on Main Street.  The society maintains these two rose gardens for the enjoyment of all who visit the Esther Short Park and The Covington House.

     The public is welcomed to join FVRS volunteers on March 11 to help "open" the gardens for the growing season.  Just show up with your questions and pruners.  YOU WILL LEARN ALOT about pruning and deadheading roses if you participate... don't miss this valuable learning experience!

     Additional workdays will be scheduled and posted on this website as the year progresses toward the fall "closing" of the gardens sometime in November.

     We thank ALL OUR WORKDAY VOLUNTEERS as many hands make light work.  Watch this webpage for the dates of future workdays.

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.