About Us
For nearly 100 years, Rosehill Gardens has been inspiring Kansas City’s beautiful landscapes.
History
Beginning with the Basics
For nearly 100 years, Rosehill Gardens has been inspiring Kansas City’s beautiful landscapes. In 1914 Evert Asjes started his business with a small growing area at 5649 Bales Avenue in Kansas City. In the beginning, Evert kept busy mowing grass, planting flower beds and offering maintenance services to the beautiful mansions in the area — now home to the Kansas City Museum. This humble beginning provided strong roots for future growth.
Growth and Expansion
In 1929, Evert relocated his business and purchased property at 9300 Holmes Rd. By 1933, Evert Asjes, Jr. and Catherina Asjes, the children of Evert and Jane Asjes, became active in the company. After WWII, the desire for landscaping was ignited by a national housing boom. Evert Asjes, Jr. was soon recognized as a gifted landscape designer and plantsman. Sister Catherina and Evert’s wife, Kathryn took responsibility for running the office and garden store. Evert Asjes, Sr. operated the greenhouses while overseeing company operations until Evert Asjes, Jr. became owner in 1951.
Growth continued in fields along the Blue River bottoms. By the late 1950′s and early 1960′s, farms near 157th and Prospect in Belton began to produce the wide variety and exceptional quality of plants now offered at Rosehill Gardens. These fields, referred to as North, Mid, and South Belton replaced the Blue River properties for production. By the mid 1980′s, the Freeman, Missouri farm began production of shade trees.
Evert Asjes III joined the company after graduating from Kansas State University in 1958 with a degree in Landscape Design. Steve Asjes joined his father, Evert III in 1982, after graduating from the University of Missouri in Columbia, with a degree in Horticulture. In 1992, Steve became President of Rosehill Gardens. In late summer, 1992, after 63 years, Rosehill Gardens moved to its present location at 311 East 135th Street, Kansas City, Missouri, in an area also known as Martin City.
Through four generations of the Asjes family, Rosehill Gardens flourished through the twentieth century. Sadly, in March, 2007, Steve Asjes ended a long and difficult struggle against cancer. With Steve’s blessing, long time employees, Gary Weidenbach and Curtis Stroud purchased the company. Between them, they share nearly 35 years experience at Rosehill on both the design and financial sides of the business. Gary and Curtis are committed to delivering the same level of experience that has always set Rosehill Gardens apart.
Back in 1914, when Evert Asjes founded Rosehill Gardens with a dream to help beautify Kansas City through landscaping, he realized that in order to give his customers the best possible plants, he needed to grow them himself in native soil. He began by producing summer annuals for Memorial Day with just a handful of employees, and soon expanded to begin growing hardy trees, shrubs and perennials of the finest quality.
As Rosehill Gardens approaches our hundredth year, we are proud to continue the tradition Evert began by providing our customers with the highest quality products and services in the industry. Ninety percent of what we sell at Rosehill Gardens, we grow!
We now employ a staff of over 150 outstanding individuals who work in a wide range of positions. Our company has several divisions including Landscape Design, Maintenance, Irrigation and Lighting, as well as a full service retail Garden Center and over 1,000 acres at Rosehill’s Farms. Each of these areas work together to provide customers with the best possible landscaping experience.
We set the standard for landscape design in the Kansas City area. Our teams of designers and crews provide the inspiration people see, whether shopping on the Country Club Plaza, The Legends, or Park Place in Leawood, taking in a game at Kauffman Stadium or driving through the neighborhoods of Hallbrook and Mission Hills.