The Meijer family have been growing award winning roses for over two generations.

Based in Pijnacker, a small rural town in the south of Holland, the family started growing flowers in 1963 when Kees Meijer and his father decided to start growing roses instead of cucumbers. Working together over the next 5 years they successfully established their new business and haven’t looked back since.

Kees Meijer’s with his 4 son’s have been watching & learning how to grow beautiful high-quality flowers ever since they were born. Today, with every brother now holding a horticultural degree of their own, they are all part of the family business taking it to the 3rd generation of the Meijer family.

Today, the Meijer family utilise cutting edge technology to make each and every rose perfect. Their flowers begin life inside their modern, environmentally friendly greenhouses – which are part of an exciting joint venture with major industries to help reduce CO2.

For the Meijer family, quality is much more important than quantity. It takes between eight to ten weeks to grow each rose. The crop is carefully harvested by hand, twice a day, seven days a week. This is to ensure that the flowers are perfectly uniform in size and maturity. By carefully adhering to this process of uniformity, the customer can enjoy these beautiful roses for much longer.

At the automated process line, the roses’ quality standards are checked using the latest advanced camera and laser techniques. Each rose is measured by length, flower size and the stage at which the flower will open. After that, the roses are sorted into bunches of 10 or 20 and placed in a water bucket. They’re then swiftly stored in a special refrigerator, which preserves their natural quality.

All this is made possible because of John’s special relationship with his breeders at Lex+. They’re world renowned for breeding varieties with big heads and many petals. A true innovator, Lex+ has been awarded the prestigious Fleur Primeur award for best introduction at the Flower Auction four times. Because Lex+ knows that the Meijers' grow some of the best roses in the world, they make sure the family always receives their best varieties.

These include the Avalanche Rose, the variety that has earned Meijer gamily widespread international acclaim. Avalanche is a stunning large headed rose with an excellent vase life. One of Lex+’s earliest varieties, the rose is white and said to be as overpowering as an avalanche,” hence the name.

But the family's signature rose is, without doubt, the Sweet Avalanche+. This dreamy, porcelain pink rose with a large head is a double award winner. In 2006 it won the Fleur Primeur award as the best new coming rose of the last year. Then, it fully established its reputation in 2008 when it was awarded first place and achieved the highest appreciation score possible at the Broekerveilling Rose Show. And just to top off this tremendous success story, the Meijers' very own White Avalanche Rose came in second!