Fraser Valley Rose Farm

09/06/2026

🌹 A quick note for anyone planning a visit — the farm will be closed this Saturday, September 12. We'll be back to our regular hours the following week and open as usual for the rest of the month. Thanks for your patience, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

09/05/2026

Growing roses in pots isn't a compromise, it's often the smarter move, whether you're working with bad soil, a tiny yard, a rental you won't be in forever, or you just want to chase the sun around your patio. But container growing comes with its own rules, and getting them wrong is the fastest way to end up with a stressed, sulking plant instead of a thriving one. In this video I'm answering the questions people actually ask before and after they plant a rose in a pot: how big that pot really needs to be, what to fill it with, how often to water and feed, and whether you can get away with a big shrub or even a climber. No filler, just the answers.

Growing roses in pots isn't a compromise, it's often the smarter mo...

09/04/2026

‘Red Intuition’ is a striking Hybrid Tea discovered by Guy Delbard in France in 1999, a spontaneous sport of ‘Belle Rouge’. Introduced by Delbard in 2004, it became part of their Painters Collection of distinctive striped roses with artistic flair, exhibiting large, high-centred blooms marked in clear red and deep crimson.
The pattern can be wonderfully unpredictable: broad streaks, fine stripes, and dark flecks break across the petals, making each flower slightly different. Here at the rose farm, however, our ‘Red Intuition’ has developed a rather single-minded response to our summer weather. Under the combination of intense sunlight and heat, the crimson markings seem to burn away almost as quickly as the flowers open, transformed into a rich, almost unbroken red — as though the summer sun has provided another coat over the brushstrokes, smoothing the reds into one.
It is a vigorous, upright rose, reaching around five feet, with glossy foliage and long stems that make it particularly good for cutting. It flowers repeatedly throughout the season, so it will be intriguing to see if the distinctive stripes reappear once autumn temperatures begin to creep in.

09/03/2026

Bred by W. Kordes & Sons in Germany, ‘Liebeszauber’ translates as ‘Love’s Magic’ — an apt description for a Hybrid Tea whose deep crimson blooms seem to have stepped out of a rather romantic fairytale. Its red velvet petals seem otherworldly in their perfection, beginning as elegantly formed, high-centred buds, wound tightly into intricate spirals at the heart. As they open, the dramatic blooms relax into broad, loosely cupped flowers, their outer petals becoming wonderfully wavy and informal.
The plant is vigorous and upright, reaching around six feet, and the fragrance is every bit as impressive as the colour: intensely, unmistakably rosy. In fact, its perfume was recognised with the Hague Fragrance Award in 1994. You may also encounter it under the name ‘The City of Windsor’, a tribute to Windsor, Ontario, known as the ‘City of Roses’.

09/03/2026

Blush Noisette
Its story began in Charleston in the early 1800s, when John Champney crossed the China rose ‘Old Blush’ with a European Musk, producing the repeat-flowering ‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster’. Philippe Noisette grew seedlings from it, selected the softer, more refined form we know today, and sent it to his brother Louis in Paris. There, it became a sensation — and the Noisette family of roses was born.
The flowers are wonderfully delicate: pointed crimson buds opening to clusters of pinkish-white blooms, touched with lilac as they age towards white. Their small, full flowers carry a gentle clove fragrance, and appear in generous flushes throughout the season, sweet and fresh as a Spring morning after rain, even in the middle of summer.
Very vigorous, heat-tolerant, and remarkably healthy, ‘Blush Noisette’ can grow as a compact climber or substantial shrub, reaching around six feet. Its glossy foliage and relatively sparse prickles make it an unusually agreeable garden plant, with upright, but flexible and elegant stems. Renowned botanical artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté painted the rose in France, where it became very popular, and was given the name ‘Blush Noisette’ — a name that would ultimately become attached not just to one rose, but to an entire class of repeat-flowering roses.

09/03/2026

‘Honey Dijon’ seems to have arrived from some forgotten still life, its large, ruffled flowers painted in old gold, antique brass, and warm parchment. The pointed buds may blush with pink before opening, while the flowers shift with the weather — deeper mustard and café-au-lait in cooler temperatures, luminous honey-gold in summer, then softening towards aged vellum.
Bred by James A. Sproul and introduced by Weeks Roses in 2005, this vigorous Grandiflora carries nearly five-inch blooms in small clusters, flowering in generous flushes throughout the season. Sweetly fruity in fragrance and reaching around five feet, it has the upright presence of a classic garden rose, but with colouring that looks more at home in an old painting than a modern border.

09/02/2026

Named by David Austin in 1983 for the heroine of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, this rose also reaches back to Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, where Cressida is a thoughtful woman caught in the impossible currents of war and circumstance, rather than simply the faithless figure later tradition made of her. Her story, like so many literary women, has been shaped as much by those who told it as by who she actually was.
The rose itself is considerably less elusive. Fat, golden buds striped with cerise open into deeply cupped blooms of apricot, buff, and soft cream, with petals of almost Edwardian opulence and, occasionally, a charming button eye at the centre. They arrive in increasingly lavish clusters as the season progresses, carrying a powerful fragrance of myrrh, ripe fruit, and warm apricot.

09/02/2026

With its luminous golden-yellow flowers, glossy foliage, and remarkably dependable habit, Rosa ‘Julia Child’ is a Floribunda that manages to be both beautiful and thoroughly practical.
Bred by Tom Carruth and introduced by Weeks Roses in 2004, it produces large, generously ruffled blooms whose warm colouring seems to deepen as the summer temperatures rise. The fragrance is equally distinctive: rich and sweet, with intriguing notes of anise and licorice that give the flowers a depth beyond their sunny appearance.
Before her passing, the celebrated chef Julia Child chose this particular rose to bear her name, apparently seeing in its warm golden colour the unmistakable shade of French butter.
The plant itself has much to recommend it. Compact and bushy, with glossy foliage and excellent disease resistance, it flowers prolifically in continuous flushes throughout the season, making it a vigorous and remarkably reliable garden rose.
Perhaps it is no surprise that it has found an equally enthusiastic following in the UK, where it is known as ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ — a name that seems rather well suited to a rose with such a sunny disposition and such an impressive work ethic.

09/02/2026

The differences between rambling and climbing roses can sometimes be confusing, and to add to the hesitation, this lovely climber has the word rambling right in the title. 'Ramblin' Red' is indeed a climbing rose, as can be determined from its well behaved size (a polite 10 feet), and its ability to repeat again late in the season (though a slightly lighter flush the second time around). Unlike their wilder rambling cousins, climbers are often bred for specific characteristics like these fully double blooms, in unmistakable crimson, and their strong, compelling fragrance. 'Ramblin' Red' also enjoys a hardy and vigorous growth, safe to Zone 3, and will thrive when given a trellis or arbour around which to entwine itself.

09/01/2026

Introduced by Fryer’s Roses in 1976, ‘Sally Holmes’ is a Hybrid Musk with a particularly touching beginning: amateur breeder Robert Holmes named the rose for his wife, Sally. A vigorous cross between ‘Ivory Fashion’ and ‘Ballerina’, it has gone on to become one of the most admired roses of its type, combining elegance with an exceptionally robust constitution.
The flowers begin as pointed, apricot-toned buds, opening through soft peach and primrose before gradually fading to a luminous alabaster, as if the summer sun has bleached the colour from them. Each simple, five-petaled bloom opens to reveal a crown of golden-yellow stamens, beautifully set against glossy, forest-green foliage. They may appear singly, but are often carried in generous, airy clusters, creating a lovely contrast between the individual flowers and the greater sweep of the plant.
‘Sally Holmes’ is vigorous enough to grow as a dense, mounding shrub, or, given some support and encouragement, as a graceful climber. Its fragrance is delicate and musky, adding another dimension to the pale, luminous blossoms.
Its reputation was formally recognised in 2012, when ‘Sally Holmes’ became the first rose bred by an amateur to be inducted into the Rose Hall of Fame — a remarkable distinction for a rose that began as such a personal tribute.