About Us

We, Geert van de Laak and Wilma Verhaegh came from the Netherlands on 19 January 2007 to start a new adventure in Southland. We were used to have a rose nursery in the Netherlands for eight years. We are very impressed about how nice it is to grow roses in Southland and would like to carry on with this for many many years.

We immigrated to New Zealand for several reasons. One of the most important reasons is that we can do our work more specialized. Furthermore the people here in general are very pleasant and helpful.

Geert and Wilma ran a rose business for almost a decade in the Netherlands. We grew bush roses, standard roses, standard willows and some conifers. We grew the roses for export. We never knew what happened to all the roses we used to grow over there. Here in New Zealand we will be able to sell the roses for wholesale and retail, not just wholesale as we did in Holland. We have established a Rose Garden at the front of our house with up to 300 varieties for people to look at. There our customers will also be able to have a cup of coffee. Furthermore we would like to provide our customers with detailed information on how to take care of roses.
 
Our future plans. We will intend to focus on growing standard roses and willows. At the moment we are already busy with introducing our new label in combination with black pots. We think that it is necessary to have a good-looking product. Our aim in our business is quality and service. “We like to grow!” We also want to import specimens of a willow that does not exist here. In the Netherlands it is a very popular product. It is easy to maintain and looks gorgeous!

Finally, we are really enjoying living in New Zealand and we are looking forward what life will bring us here!

Geert and Wilma