Word: meillands
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Dates: during 1968-1968
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Peace quickly became a rosy success. During the war, the Meillands had barely managed to hang on to a remnant of their rose-growing business near Lyon. Now, with royalties pouring in from the U.S., they were able to buy a chunk of expensive land on the Riviera and make a fresh start. In less than a decade, the Peace rose was blossoming on some 30 million bushes throughout the world. "How strange to think," wrote Francis Meilland in his diary, "that all these millions of rosebushes sprang from a tiny seed no bigger than the head...
Bush Royalties. Today, at least eight out of ten roses bought in any flower shop in Western Europe are Meilland creations. In the U.S., Meilland roses have earned ten awards at the annual All-America Rose Selections, while no other European firm has ever won twice...
...Alain Meilland, 27, a fifth-generation rose-grower who now heads the business, has a personal income of close to $200,000 a year. At least 10% of the millions of rose plants sold in the world every year, he says, are Meilland's. Since the success of Peace, professional rose-growers around the world buy his breeding stock, propagate it by grafting, and pay him royalties of 100 to 500 on each bush they sell. "We are a research laboratory whose sole purpose is to create beautiful roses," says Alain, as he points proudly to the family...
...perhaps one plant out of the original 100,000 will make the grade. The new rose will be notable for its color, the firmness of its silken petals or its longevity. His Baccara was the first rose to last for a week after cutting, claims Alain Meilland, but in some recent tests his latest creation, Lovita, stayed in fresh bloom for three weeks...
...Meillands trace their business success to a trip that Francis Meilland made to the U.S. in 1935. He traveled 15,000 miles cross-country in a secondhand car and studied the American rose industry-from breeding to selling. When Meilland went home, he became the first in Europe to use color plates in his catalogues and promote sales campaigns with colored posters He also fought persistently for European patent laws that would protect his new plants. Until his lobbying achieved success all over the Continent, his best products were pirated by competitors Today, with the law behind it, the Meilland...