What is your favourite type of rose?

It’s the one question Brad Jalbert dislikes more than any other.

“It’s like being asked to choose which is your favourite child,” he says with a groan. “They’re all my favourites.”

And they really are like children. There are tens of thousands of varieties of roses in the world, and Brad is responsible for 140 of those. Rose varieties that he’s created can be found in Australia, Spain, and elsewhere throughout the world. They are award winners, recognized for their unique qualities and remarkable colour range. And his love of the delicate flowers has helped the UFV alumnus build a thriving business.

This is the 34^th season for Select Roses, which was founded on the Jalbert family farm in South Langley in 1990. Jalbert’s love of what he does hasn’t waned in the slightest with the passage of time, and he says he might be more thrilled to get going this year than he was in year one.

“I like what I do, a lot,” he says with a smile. “I like making things beautiful.”

Jalbert received thousands of dormant sticks (pieces of rose bush that are “sleeping”; when once planted, they begin to take root and thrive) in early March and calls it “magical” the way they become visually stunning flowers.

“My eyes just dance around because I know we’re going to put those sticks into pots of soil, and in a few months, they’re going to be in full bloom,” he says. “No other plant does that.”

Jalbert credits UFV for giving him the confidence to do what he’s doing, calling it one of the greatest experiences of his life. He founded Select Roses soon after his 1989 graduation from the Ornamental Horticulture certificate program.

“When I went to Fraser Valley College, they were so welcoming,” he says. “It was a great place to learn how to interact better with other people being there taught me a lot of social skills that I needed. It was a very important part of my life.”

“We often forget to be kind to ourselves, especially when we’re working so hard on our education.”

Dr. Norma Senn and Rose Morrison-Ives, both horticulture instructors when he was a student, helped Jalbert greatly. He says they modeled leadership skills he uses to this day.

For today’s students, Jalbert offers simple advice: Be kind to others. Be kind to yourself.

“We often forget to be kind to ourselves, especially when we’re working so hard on our education,” he says. “I’m a firm believer in hard, hard work, and it took around 30 years for me to learn this lesson. But it is important to have a work–life balance. There’s no sense doing everything you’re doing if you can’t slow down to enjoy it occasionally.”

Good advice that Jalbert himself follows. No doubt he gives himself time to stop….and smell the roses.

More than 50,000 people have graduated from UFV since 1974. Over the next year, we’ll be introducing you to 50 remarkable alumni.