Fraser Valley Rose Farm

This elegant, perpetual blooming, globular rose, often classed as a Bourbon, is believed to be a cross between a Damask, given its strong, irresistible fragrance, and a China rose with its graceful habit. As with most found roses, we may never be sure, but it is clearly old, and infinitely charming. Originally titled ‘Dresden China’ when it was rediscovered, it was reintroduced by Natalie & Humphrey Brooke when they purchased the estate of Natalie’s deceased grandmother, Countess Sophie Petrovna Shuvalov Benkendorff. Sophie had been the granddaughter of Lev Naryshkin, a Napoleonic War hero. She was the wife of the last Imperial ambassador to England from 1903-1917, and their Romanov leanings were the key reason that the Revolution of 1917 forced the family to relocate to the UK. Sophie illustrated “Forget-Me-Not and Lily of the Valley”, a book by Maurice Baring, and she set up a charity to improve the lives of Russian prisoners of war in 1915. She moved to Suffolk in 1920, after the ravages of the Spanish Flu and the Great War had hit her family hard, and began designing the gardens at Lime Kiln, Claydon to display many unusual old varieties of plants, including a charming, nearly thornless rose with translucent pink blooms that darken to magenta on the outer petals. When the Brookes begin restoring the garden in 1954, they found this delightful carmine beauty which would eventually go on to carry the name of the woman who originally planted it. Today we call it ‘Sophie’s Perpetual’, and these cupped clusters of delight are a captivating addition to the garden.

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6 days ago | [YT] | 285

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

Rosa ‘Florentina’ is a robust, vigorous climber bred by Kordes in 2011. The foliage is exceptionally healthy, glossy, and full. However, it is the nostalgic, deep red blooms that appear to have been taken from a Victorian Christmas card that are the undeniable draw here. The cascading clusters of roses are deeply crimson, and have bright yellow stamens if you can find them amongst the proliferation of silky petals. The canes are more agreeably pliable than most climbers, making them easy to train on trellises, arbours, and walls. There is no definitive declaration on where their name originates, but one can imagine the unapologetically red city flag and banner of Florence, might have something to do with it. The drama of the blooms’ colour belies the delicacy of their sweet fragrance, which adds to their romantic charm. They are very winter hardy, and are a great performer for anyone in Zones 5-9.

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6 days ago | [YT] | 385

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

In making the Joséphine video, I got to wondering how Redouté (her collab partner) was able to produce full-color books in the 1800's. Here's what I learned:

When he published his masterpiece Les Roses (1817–1824), full-color printing wasn’t yet good enough for fine botanical art. So every plate started as a black-ink engraving — a finely dotted image that captured all the light, shade, and detail of the rose.

Then came the magic: teams of skilled colorists, often young women trained for meticulous brushwork, sat in workshops and painted each print by hand with watercolor. Some might do just the petals, others the leaves, so dozens of hands could work toward a consistent “house style.”

That made these books *expensive* — roughly the equivalent of $40,000–$50,000 USD today, or more than a year’s wages for a skilled worker in the 1820s.

Only a few hundred full sets were made, mostly for aristocrats, wealthy collectors, and institutions. Each one is slightly unique — the human touch in the coloring means no two roses are exactly the same.

In other words: Les Roses wasn’t just a book — it was a hand-finished art collection you could turn the pages of.

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 445

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

Though it blooms just once in June/July, the roses of Léontine Gervais are so sumptuous, it is graciously viewed as a special treat when they burst forth from their round, coppery red buds. The flat formed flowers themselves are a beautiful salmon pink, warming into an apricot flush, and ageing to a soft cream. They are particularly striking back lit by warm sunlight, as they climb enthusiastically to 10-15 feet over pergolas, arbours, fences, and walls. They navigate on long, supple branches and stems that give a feeling of elegance and flexibility, almost as if they manifested out of the landscape instead of being planted by human hands. They were introduced by René Barbier in 1903, who was renowned for breeding Wichurana ramblers with strong fragrances, beautifully graceful rose forms, and large blossoms. The name is reported to be possibly in honour of someone who worked at the Barbier nursery, however, as René‘s brother was named Leon, perhaps the honorific is closer than just an employee. Whatever the name, this rambler was so popular in the early 19th century, it could be found in every major garden exhibition and display. If you choose it for your display, you will be pleased with its disease tolerance, shade tolerance, and delicate mix of colours.

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 346

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

As certain exemplary roses repeat in flushes during the season, so too does our appreciation for them. We have profiled Charles Austin before, but the display it puts on during each renewal of blossoms is worth revisiting. These golden-apricot roses fade to soft yellow, and even blush pink as they mature, making ready-made bouquets of complementary colour variation, right on the stems. This is a quintessential English Rose, bred by David Austin, named for his father Charles, with a robust upright habit, and glossy green foliage. There is no question as to why this rose has been a parent to so many iconic Austin roses since its introduction in 1973.

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3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 379

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

Not all English Roses wear the same lavish ballgown of layers of petals. ‘Peach Blossom’, introduced by David Austin in 1990, is delicate, ephemeral, and wildly romantic. With just 6 to 16 petals, each semi-double bloom looks like it drifted in from the orchard, and the next gust of wind could have the blush pink curls cascading to the ground. Whilst it has the airy charm of a wildflower, its blooms stay longer and repeat, like we’ve come to expect in an Austin shrub. The arching stems add movement, as do the occasional quilled pedal that quivers in the breeze. They will provide hips in the autumn if you limit your pruning late in the season. The fragrance is mild and fruity with a hint of musk, and is best appreciated if you linger around the flower for some time, so plant them on or near a terrace, and spend some time getting to know them. These tender blossoms remind us to appreciate subtlety in our gardens, although the clusters put on a display that will not go unnoticed.

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 334

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

If you visit the farm, take care not to miss a rather understated specimen that sits among its more showy neighbours, just a few rows down from the greenhouses. Kazanlik is thought to be the oldest Summer Damask rose in existence. Documented in 1612, but clearly cultivated long before, this heavily fragrant rose is named for Kazanlak — the Valley of the Roses in Bulgaria. The blossoms are distilled into Attar of Rose, used in perfumes, incense, and sacred oils since ancient times. A British army officer in the 1860s once described the area near Adrianople as sitting in over 14 000 acres of Kazanlik roses, comprising the main source of wealth in the district. Our shrub is over, 8 feet tall, towering over the shorter hybrids around it, but you could be forgiven for overlooking the blooms that appear only once in the early summer, medium sized, in medium pink. However, the fragrance cannot be ignored, and fills the area around the shrub with its divine aroma, rather than seeming to come from each bloom. Linger a moment to become embraced by its scent, and imagine the masons of long ago Persia mixing the Attar into the mortar of the public buildings, so as the stone was warmed by the sun, it would release the same fragrance you’re experiencing here at the farm.

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1 month ago | [YT] | 415

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

A rose with a bloom as grand as its name, these sumptuous apricot flowers are Abbaye de Cluny roses. Each cupped bloom averages 4 to 5 inches, but as you can see from the hand in our photo, the ones growing in our garden are even bigger. The foliage is a vigorous, bushy shrub of medium green with a glossy sheen that catches the light. A hybrid tea rose, introduced by Meilland in 1995, Abby de Cluny was named in honour of the Benedictine Abbey at Cluny in France, once the most prestigious and powerful monastic centre in Europe. It was a Romanesque marvel, and you can almost imagine roses like these blooming in quiet cloisters, lovingly tended by monks, though it would be centuries before this variety existed. Each bloom is densely packed, averaging 30 petals, sometimes more, forming elegant creamsicle cabbages. They have a traditional tea fragrance as well as form, slightly spicy with a hint of citrus, a perfect echo of their old world charm. They bloom all summer long in a devotional, display of beauty and endurance.

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1 month ago | [YT] | 459

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

Two more success stories from the test garden to share with you, that are both David Austin roses, both fully double blooms, and low habit, repeat bloomers. However, they bring very different moods to your garden. The first is Sharifa Asma, named for an Omani princess at the request of her family, of which there is no historical record (nick name perhaps? — very mysterious). It has delicate, frilled petals that are a dense, shell pink in the centre, and fade out to marshmallow white at the outer edges. They are as elegant and exquisite as their fragrance — a strong, and distinctive aroma of white grapes and mulberries.

The second rose is The Prince, aptly named as the colour seems as if it would grace the robes of an enigmatic heir to an obscure medieval throne. Often listed as simply ‘deep red’, it is much more accurate to say that the petals start off a deep amaranthine, and mature to the most regal of amethyst purples. Its drama continues with the opulent aroma of old roses — warm and romantic.

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1 month ago | [YT] | 299

Fraser Valley Rose Farm

Leda is a charming Old Damask rose with the classic, spicy fragrance for which they are prized. Sometimes referred to as the Painted Rose, Leda reveals her true colours slowly — deep crimson buds open to abundant, double blooms of milky white, often brushed with raspberry edges. Bred in the UK before 1827, Leda carries the elegance of her namesake, the queen of Sparta and mother of Helen of Troy, renowned for her beauty — a blossom of both legend and grace. Cloaked in sage foliage, each rosette has that button eye of damask roses, and clusters in groups of 3 to 7. Often described as a moderate size shrub, they have a tendency to loose growth, and like to spread out a bit once established.

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1 month ago | [YT] | 345