The only grower of the scented red rose 'Extase' is just around the corner of our offices at Aalsmeer!

The scented red rose Extase:

At the Aalsmeerderweg 265 (just around the corner from our offices), you can find the only grower left with the amazing scented red rose Extase; The nursery from family Zekveld.

Zekveld Nursery with still some wooden greenhouses from the 1940’s

The red rose Extase was developed by Kordes in the 1940’s. It’s a real classic! As far as we know the Zekveld Nursery is the only company in the world producing this rose commercially. The nursery from the family Zekveld has been growing roses for over more than forty years, especially classical fragrant roses. Now from all roses, only the red rose Extase is still in production.

Fragrant Roses Extase

Over the past few years many traditional rose farms have disappeared in the Netherlands. According to the current owners André and Inge Zekveld it has to do about the high costs of production. The costs are very high, mainly due to the high energy costs. André and Inge say that growing roses is not competitive anymore if you take a look at the prices they receive for their roses.

THE DUTCH AUCTION CLOCK SYSTEM

Most growers are used to just selling their flowers through the auction system (the Dutch clocks) from FloraHolland, and so are André and Inge. Selling their roses this way is not working for them anymore. The main reason is that the rose Extase does not get the appreciation this beautiful rose deserves. They are very undervalued. It is truly a wonderful product. Good vase life and a delicious perfume! Unfortunately the prices given to the roses is just too low.

Besides the low prices given to the growers, they also face high costs. To be able to sell at the auction you have to be a member of FloraHolland. And membership for growers with just a small volume such as André and Inge is too expensive.

Also André and Inge do not have a lot of experience marketing themselves and their products. Having a great product is just not enough anymore, you have to position yourself. Also socially and online. At the moment nobody knows these beautiful roses are being grown and that they are ready to leave the nursery to your flower shop!

Panoramic view of one of the greenhouses where roses Extase are grown

We hope that André and Inge will keep on growing this amazing fragrant rose Extase. To do so we try to connect his production to our customers. This way it must be possible to avoid the auction clock system and guarantee a good price for the grower.

Would you like to join us and secure already a part of the production of the Extase roses? Send an email to info@parfumflowercompany.com to find out more.

A rose farm from 1948!

In the late nineties Zekveld sr. died and André took over the business at a young age. Nowadays André and Inge are dreaming about the opportunity to grow organic roses. Although they already spray a minimal amount of pesticides, and the score the 100 point for the MPS mark easily, they are aiming for 100% organically grown roses. André and Inge Zekveld have decided (partly due to the low price on the clock for the roses), to change a part of the nursery:

"We continue to grow roses, but have some space at the nursery made ready and suitable for growing organic vegetables. We grow tasty vegetables without using chemical pesticides. If this catches on, we will consider in the next few years to move from roses to unsprayed vegetables."

They have created a separate company for that; Oogst Oost, which translates to ‘Harvest East’, because they are located in th east part of Aalsmeer. You can find their Facebook page here

We at Parfum Flower Company hope very much that André and Inge continue to grow Extase and may start growing other beautiful varieties of scented roses in the coming years. We have many rose loving florist customers who will be delighted to get some of these locally grown beauties!! When interested, please send us an email!

Andre Zekveld with som roses he only grows for his wife and his friends

If we as a Parfum Flower Company succeed to give a good price for the Extase roses we might see ‘Shocking Blue’ and ‘Sterling Silver’ coming back next year! André indicated that when he gets a fair price he is eager to start again growing these beautiful rose varieties!