Darlene Sanders, VRS & Avant Gardener
avantgardener @ telus.net

Darlene Sanders has been an active member of the Vancouver Rose Society since 1980. She has attended five world rose conventions as well as traveled extensively with the English Historic Roses Group, the latest being June 2008’s exploration of the castles and gardens of the Loire Valley in France.

A passionate hands-on gardener, Darlene has created a cottage garden in West Vancouver where she tends 175 roses, mainly Old Garden Roses but with a liberal sprinkling of modern and mini varieties. A 100 year old Western Red Cedar on her property plays host to a cascading Kiftsgate rose, while old roses planted outside the fence along the adjoining lane delight passers-by with their heady fragrance.

Darlene opens her garden to visitors in June, and at Vancouver’s annual Rose Show she can be counted on to participate both as an exhibitor and as a judge. Since 1988 she has owned and operated a successful retail garden/home décor store called The Avant Gardener.

Brenda Viney, VRS & JMP Marketing
brendaviney @ telus.net

Brenda Viney has been an active member of the Vancouver Rose Society since 1989. In 1990, she joined the Board of Directors as Secretary and subsequently became President for 1999 and 2000. Today, she is the Membership Chair and writes a monthly “To Do” column in the Society’s newsletter. Over the years she has participated in yearly pruning demonstrations, run five consecutive Rose Shows as the Chair, including the Canadian National Show, opened her garden to member visits every year, become a major exhibitor in the VRS yearly rose show, and volunteered in most activities in which the Society has engaged.

Brenda and her husband Al have created a charming mixed garden at their home just outside Vancouver. Starting with a house surrounded by grass on a 66’ x 120’ lot, over the past 15 years they have reduced the grassy surround substantially creating meandering garden beds front and back. Five years ago they delighted neighbours by creating a 10’ x 50’ fragrant rose garden on the front boulevard and added a small water feature to the back yard. The garden now holds a collection of 200 roses, including a good selection of modern and old roses, along with a mélange of perennials, shrubs and herbs.

Brad Jalbert, VRS & Select Roses
selectroses @ shaw.ca
www.selectroses.ca

Brad has been growing roses and gardening since a child. It is his hobby, his business (Select Roses) and his greatest passion in life. He spends much of his time hybridizing new roses and doing what he can to teach people how easy it is to grow roses! Brad has hybridized over 50 new roses, and has coauthored two books on roses for the Pacific Northwest area.

Patrick White, VRS
patrickwhite @ shaw.ca

Patrick is a retired family physician, now working in peer review/quality assurance for the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is also an accredited horticultural judge, consultant rosarian, and is Vice-President of the CRS. He enjoys presenting both at home and abroad on the subject of roses. One significant task has been introducing the first Canadian EarthKind project (Victoria). Patrick enjoys a seaside garden (Victoria - zone 8 b (cool Mediterranean), landscaped with all types of roses, sustained organically) with physician wife Diana, and dogs Obi and Dawson.

Janet Wood, VRS
janetwood @ shaw.ca

Janet was given a Lifetime Membership to the Vancouver Rose Society in honour of her huge contribution to the society. She is a Past President, Treasurer and Director, and is a Canadian Rose Society Consulting Rosarian. She has created an outstanding garden in the Southlands area of Vancouver where she grows a few hundred roses, including massive ramblers on a trellis reminiscent of Giverny. Every year in June she generously opens her garden to visitors who come to admire, savour the fragrance and learn. Janet's enthusiasm for roses is contagious and she is one of the greatest ambassadors the Vancouver Rose Society has.

Lesley Finlay, VRS
kfinlay @ telus.net

I joined the Rose Society in 1991 because I wanted to grow roses like my parents did in New Zealand. My first attempts before joining the V.R.S. did not produce the quality of roses I was hoping for. That was because I didn't realize roses needed 6 hours of sun, food, water and T.L.C.!! Today I grow over 400 roses of all varieties on one acre and am pleased to say that my green thumb has drastically improved. I joined the V.R.S. Executive committee and after a stint as the speaker co-ordinator for meetings and the membership chair, I became the Rose Show chair - a position I have held for a number of years and enjoy immensely. I found exhibiting my roses in the local Rose Show to be not only a fulfilling experience but a successful one as well! I look forward to meeting fellow rose growers from all over the world (and competing against them!) at the World Federation Rose Show.

Elaine Raine

eraine @ btmlawyers.com

Dale Akerstrom, VRS
adalex @ telus.net

Hi, I’m Dale Akerstrom, and I’m currently President of the Vancouver Rose Society (VRS). I started gardening in 1997, when I lived in Vancouver’s West End, a densely-populated park-like area of Vancouver. Although I had only a small mostly-shady patio, I crammed in as many plants as possible, and I started a hobby business looking after other people’s gardens in the area.

In 2003, I went to a talk by Christine Allen at the VanDusen Garden Show on growing fragrant roses, and from that point on I was “hooked” on growing roses. By this time we had moved to a house with an actual yard, and I set to transforming it into a garden, with a pond, pergolas, patios, perennials, and of course, roses! I joined the VRS and learned a great deal from the ‘old pros’ in the group, and have thoroughly enjoyed the activities and education the VRS has provided.

In 2006, I went to the World Rose Convention in Osaka, and had a fabulous time going to rose gardens, learning from the speakers at the Convention, and being utterly pampered by our impeccably hospitable Japanese hosts. It was a very memorable experience, and one that I hope we will again create here in Vancouver in June 2009.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all at World Rose 2009!

Gail Robertson, VRS
gnrobertson @ live.ca

Gail’s gardens of the past have been woodland creations under a canopy of large West Coast firs, hemlocks and cedars, and her attempts to grow roses in such an environment were a struggle. A new urban garden provided an opportunity to grow roses, and the stimulus to do so came after hearing Peter Beales’ presentation at a Vancouver Rose Society meeting. Now her garden includes roses and their number keeps increasing amongst the perennials and shrubs. As with most gardeners, the garden composition changes each year but the true stalwarts in her urban garden are the climbing roses. Most of the other roses in the garden are floribundas; however, there is a new-found appreciation for heritage roses. Unknown additions and/or changes are being contemplated at this time to add heritage roses in the garden. The garden’s palette never is finished.....

Marjorie Cullerne, VRS & Musician
marjorie @ marjoriecullerne.com

Marjorie Cullerne, music historian and violinist, is the Music and Entertainment Coordinator for the World Rose Festival. She hails from Parkville, on Vancouver Island. She loves gazing into roses and smelling their wafting perfume, especially when she is hired to play her violin at garden weddings, garden shows, or indoor events with their floral bouquets. Some of her favourite moments occur when she plays strolling violin - romantic, gypsy and Celtic music, walking leisurely between the flower beds while entertaining the party guests.

Marjorie's great-uncle, British composer Haydn Wood composed the hit song Roses of Picardy in 1916. Thanks to her partner Gilles Gouset’s research into the histororical importance of the song, in 2004 David Austin Roses launched a single red English Musk rose (Ausfudge) called The Rose of Picardy.

Besides helping to choose entertainers for the Conference and Festival, violinist Marjorie will entertain you with music at the 2009 World Rose Convention. You can hear Marjorie playing her violin with guitarist Peter Leclerc at www.starlightreverie.com.

Brad Jalbert, VRS & Select Roses
selectroses @ shaw.ca
www.selectroses.ca

Brad's bio is above.

Bob Meighen, VRS
rmeighen @ shaw.ca

Bob Meighen has been an active member of the Vancouver Rose Society since 1996. He is the past president of the Langley Garden Club, a qualified Master Gardener, and a member of the Hardy Plant Society. Under the influence of Brad Jalbert, Bob took a great interest in roses which resulted in a garden that included approximately 400 roses along with many other plants. Last winter Bob and his wife Luella downsized from their 1 acre parcel to a postage stamp lot in Fort Langley. At present hundreds of potted plants line the sides of the house awaiting the removal of the grass! After a lifetime immersed in sports, gardening has become a passion, surpassed only by his delight in his family.

Wendy Bishop
wendy.bishop @ sauder.ubc.ca

Gail Robertson, VRS
gnrobertson @ live.ca

Gail’s bio is above.

Arlene Arnold

galliearnold @ shaw.ca

Alec Globe, VRS & UBC Professor
globe @ interchange.ubc.ca

Alec is a retired UBC professor and avid rose historian, and has the largest personal collection of rose books in Canada.

Bob Meighen, VRS
rmeighen @ shaw.ca 

Bob's bio is above.

Gail Robertson, VRS
gnrobertson @ live.ca

Gail’s bio is above.

Pamela Erikson, VRS & Erikson's Daylily Gardens
pamela1 @ istar.ca
www.plantlovers.com/erikson

Pam Erikson is an award-winning daylily hybridizer from Langley, B.C. Canada. In 1991, Pam became the first American Hemerocallis Society judge in Canada and started the first Canadian daylily club in the country in affiliation with the AHS and is still its President to this day. Pam and her family invite gardeners from around the world to tour the gardens in July at peak bloom time. The one-acre display garden has seen bus tours from Australia, Japan and England – in addition to thousands of local gardening enthusiasts and several gardening television and radio shows from around the country. A few years ago, more growing area was added with a 30-acre growing field in Fort Langley that supplies the wholesale market.

Pam travels extensively in the fall and winter months, giving slide presentations to introduce new gardeners to her favorite plants and traveling to many destinations to acquire new and rare varieties! She has also been involved in event planning for many years in her capacity as Vice-President of the Canadian Hemerocallis Society, Vice-President of the Annual Canadian-American Daylily Symposium in Niagara Falls each March, former Regional President of the Washington and Oregon Daylily Society and was Chair of the VanDusen Flower and Garden Show in Vancouver for many years. In recent years, Pam has collaborated on several books dedicated to daylilies, is a member of the Garden Writers of America and writes regularly for quarterly daylily publications across North America. She was named Hybridizer of the Year by the CHS in 2005, and to date has introduced 62 new cultivars to the world market.

Sarah Lowis, Project Director
Sea to Sky Meeting Management Inc.

sarah @ seatoskymeetings.com
www.seatoskymeetings.com

Sarah is the founder and President of Sea to Sky Meeting Management Inc., 2005 winner of the Global Paragon Award, Category I, awarded by Meeting Professionals International (MPI). Practical experience, over the past 20 years, in Europe, Canada and the United States provides Sarah with a complete understanding of the complexities of national and international conference and event management.

World Federation
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The Vancouver
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American
Rose Society