Life In Rose Farm

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” - John 20:29

I’ve lived by these words most of my life, even before I fully realized it 🕊️

Rose growing has a funny way of making that lesson very literal. So much of the work happens beneath the surface, down at the roots, where no one can see it. You water, nurture, wait, and trust that something beautiful is happening underground.

Then one sweet day, the blooms finally appear.

And sometimes… they don’t 😂 But even then, all is not lost. There is still beauty in the struggle, wisdom in the waiting, and usually a lesson we probably did not ask for…but needed anyway.

At Life In Rose Farm, we test and trial garden rose varieties ahead of time to help take the guesswork out of your growing experience. We curate the strongest, hardiest, most beautiful, and most fragrant cut-flower roses that can better handle our lovely Southern heat, humidity, pests, and diseases 🙃🙌

But we also know that sometimes even the most passionate gardeners need a little help - and we are here for that too 🥰

I am so excited to finally share what’s ahead for Life In Rose Farm! This has been in the works for quite some time, and although I’ve been tiptoeing around the idea, I finally feel ready to take on the challenge.

I say “I’m ready”… but are we ever really ready?! 😂 Don’t we usually just dive in, trust the process, and figure it out as we go? 🤷‍♀️

Effective immediately, we are now offering:

🌿 Garden design and installation
🌹 Comprehensive rose care and protection
🌱 Lawn and landscape maintenance

Whether you are a hands-on DIY gardener who needs a little guidance or someone who would rather leave the work to us, we are here to meet you wherever you are in your growing journey.

📣Potted rose sales will resume next spring, and bare-root roses will be available for preorder beginning in early November. Shipping will begin as early as January.

The future of Life In Rose Farm may look a little different, but our mission remains the same: to cultivate beauty, joy, and faith—one garden, one rose, and one hopeful beginning at a time 🌹🙏 Tap the link below to learn more!

https://www.lifeinroseservices.com

A blessed weekend with double the excitement - and double the reasons to celebrate these girlies! 💕

First, meet the newest addition to our household: Badger Bennett 🐶 He’s a Great Pyrenees mix, and he’s already been assigned the very important task of helping keep the deer away from our roses. Isn’t he the cutest little farmhand?! 🌹

When we sold the farm, we considered bringing our longtime Pyrenees home with us. But they’ve spent years protecting the rose farm from predators and deer, and because they were thriving in their familiar environment, we felt it was best to let them stay with the new owners 😢

Meanwhile, the deer have taken full advantage of our home rose garden—and honestly, nothing keeps them away quite like a good farm dog.

So this little guy will start out at home with us. Depending on how things go, we may eventually swap him with one of the older dogs at the farm, or simply keep everyone where they feel happiest and most at home 🐶🌹

Second, school volleyball is officially back in session, and this season we have not one, but two reasons to hoot and holler! 🏐

Ava could not be more thrilled to join her big sister in representing Christ the Redeemer Catholic School Volleyball! Although she is still in elementary school and entering fifth grade, Ava earned the privilege of playing on the middle school Junior Varsity team, while big sis will rep the Varsity team 🙌

Both girls poured their hearts into tryouts and hustled hard to earn their placements. We could not be prouder - or more excited to fill the stands and cheer on the Nguyen sisters this season!

Let the games…and the very loud family cheering begin! 🏐📣🙏

THE ROSE that single-handedly jump-started our rose-farming journey 🤍

I am not a jealous or envious person by any means… BUT when I first laid eyes on this beauty on a friend’s social page, I wanted nothing more than to covet her blooms 😂 I mean, can y’all really blame me?! 😍

This heavenly scented rose by breeder Kordes Rosen is called Earth Angel here in the U.S., and truly, she is perfection in every way, shape, and form 💝

Romantic, petal-packed, beautifully cupped, and filled with that dreamy old-world charm we rose lovers cannot resist.

But the very best part?

She absolutely THRIVES in our yucky Southern heat and humidity!!!!!! 🙌

Earth Angel is a must-have for every rose garden, but especially for those of us gardening in the South, where growing cut, delicate, old-world-garden style roses can feel nearly impossible. So many of the varieties we fall in love with are far better suited for cooler, gentler climates—but Earth Angel gives us all that romance, fragrance, and beauty without completely falling apart in our weather.

She didn’t just earn a place in our garden. She helped inspire an entire rose farm 🤍 God really knew how to motivate a gal, didn’t He?! 🙏 Excited for the return of these beautiful blooms in the upcoming months!

A trip to the Pacific Northwest wouldn’t be complete without visiting a few rose gardens, so naturally, I mapped out three for us. 🌹

If I’m being honest, the roses were a bit underwhelming, particularly for this lovely climate. But the dahlias? Absolutely breathtaking—stealing the show with their incredible colors, size, and presence. 🌸✨ they’re the size of our heads!

The dahlias completely stole the spotlight, but as gorgeous as they were, they just don’t perfume the air the way garden roses do. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder, because all they did was make me miss my roses even more. 🌹💕 All the more inspired to come home and hit the ground running! Keep yall posted on our plans for the rose farm next week. Stay tuned 🙏

First time shellfishing! 🐚

And yes… we brought our gardening tools to harvest… clams. 😂🙌 Turns out they worked perfectly! We even wore our waders, which felt just like our farming overalls back home. 🌹

If rose farming doesn’t work out, I guess we’ve got a backup career. 😉🤣

Shellfishing ended up being one of our favorite experiences of the trip! Since we can’t really do this back home in Texas, it was high on our Pacific Northwest bucket list. We hopped a ferry to Lopez Island and spent the afternoon digging for clams at Spencer Spit State Park.

We did plenty of research beforehand—checking tides, shellfish regulations, and biotoxin advisories to make sure we were harvesting legally and safely. The only thing we couldn’t prepare for? The ferry wait times. 😂🚢 Let’s just say island time is real, and waiting for the ferry became part of the adventure.But that’s okay because it forces us to have to chill!

We came home with bucket-full, muddy boots, tired arms, and memories we’ll never forget. So much fun, I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. 🐚❤️🌊 highly recommend if you’re on this side of town!

Trading the steamy, stormy Southern summer for sunny skies and 60-degree days on the Puget Sound. ☀️🌊

Just one more week before life shifts back into full swing—volleyball practices, back-to-school routines, and for me, back to farming and all the business behind the blooms. 💐

So we’re soaking up every slow morning, every scenic ferry ride, every farm and flower fields, and every little adventure while we can…and pulling inspiration from them. Because sometimes the best thing you can do is pause, breathe, and enjoy the calm before the beautiful chaos begins again. 🤍🙏

What if the best time to start… is before you feel ready?

Because six years ago, that’s exactly what we did. Turns out, that was enough for God to work with.

A lot of y’all first found me in one Facebook rose/gardening group or another, and honestly, it still cracks me up thinking about it.

When we launched Life In Rose Farm, we were building a business from scratch with no roadmap, no experience, no instructions, and no clue what we were doing. We were planting thousands of roses on farmland we knew nothing about, pretending to be farmers trying to “sell” cut garden roses, AND AT THAT VERY SAME TIME LEARNING HOW TO ACTUALLY GROW SAID ROSES through those same Facebook rose/ gardening groups where some of y’all first met me 🤣🤣

Talk about building the plane while flying it. 🫣

These throwback photos are such a sweet reminder that so much beauty and joy can come from simply starting—before you feel qualified, before you have it all figured out, and before the fear goes away.

Sometimes faith looks like taking the first step while the rest is still unknown 💐

So let’s grow together, shall we? 🌱

On that note, for us Southerners, roses should be going dormant during these hot summer months. They may look a little sad, and that is totally normal. Give them plenty of water, keep the weeds at bay, but hold off on fertilizing, spraying or pruning. We’ll do that in mid-August to prepare for fall blooms — and don’t worry, I’ll remind y’all when the time comes.

P.S. With the exception of the first photo, I do NOT know the names of these rare roses 🫣 The tags either tore off or got lost over time, and I never bothered learning their names because I honestly didn’t think they were going to make it 😂 I was blissfully wrong!!! 🙏🙌

So very grateful for freedom, friendship, and a full house full of love.

God bless America 🇺🇸 Happiest 250th birthday 🎇 We went out with a big bang and are still recovering from the most epic Fourth of July celebration to date.

We hosted and housed dear friends from near and far, and even reached a new milestone: every single room in our home was filled by one friend’s family or another. After a weekend like this, I’d say we could probably get into the bed-and-breakfast business. Okay… maybe not. 😂

But truly, what a gift it was to spend this patriotic weekend surrounded by wonderful conversation, love, laughter, and some of our very favorite people. 🙏💐 Adulting and “businessing” has kept us from getting to enjoy this for a long while.

Incredibly grateful to live in the land I love.

“It began with a dream and a desire to leave an imprint on this world. Our story was born out of struggle. As a way to cope with adversity, we poured our energy into creative outlets that kept our hands busy and our minds focused on faith, growth, and creating something out of nothing.” 🌱

Some of you who have been here since day one may remember those words. And if you’re new here, welcome!!! I wrote them six years ago when Shaw and I first founded Life In Rose Farm, and even now, they remain the root of everything we’ve built. 💐

Over the years, I’ve shared many parts of myself with y’all through home renovations, interior design, and rose gardening. But now more than ever, I feel compelled to share the part of me that may be less familiar, yet has been the true driving force behind it all: my Catholic faith. 🕊️

For a long time, I kept that part of me tucked away, unsure of how it would be received, especially while building a business around rose farming. But I’ve come to realize that faith is not just part of my story. It is the foundation of it. 💝

And I think this matters because roses were never the whole story. They were just the visible part. The unseen part—the deeper root—has always been my faith. The beauty, the struggle, the building, the decisions, the perseverance, the creating something from nothing… all of it was born from something far deeper than a dream.

Like many of you, I once thought I was chasing dreams, when in truth, I was searching for meaning and purpose all along. And I’d be remiss not to share that part of my journey in case it resonates with someone else walking through the same search.

So maybe it’s time for a more honest introduction.

Hi 👋 I’m Theresa — the heart behind Life In Rose Farm, a rose grower, creative soul, wife, mother to 2 girls, volleyball fanatic, and a Vietnamese-American Catholic woman deeply rooted in faith. I hope you’ll join me in this next rosy chapter as I share not only rose-growing tips, but the faith journey behind them too 📕🌹

P.S. I don’t normally look like this. Most days you’ll find me looking more like this, especially after a long day of work. Swipe! 😂