2817 - 47th Street • Moline, IL 61265 (309) 762-6226

As 2019 draws to a close, we’re taking the time to reflect—not only on the past year but on our family’s decades of landscape and design in the Quad Cities metro area. 2020 isn’t just the start of a brand new decade; for us, it represents 70 years of Meyer Landscape and Design. We thought this was a great opportunity to take you through a little bit of our history so that you can celebrate this wonderful milestone with us!

 

Our History

It all started back in 1950, when our founders, Ed Meyer Jr. and his wife Gayle, decided to begin a small flower business called Meyer’s Flower Farm. This was nothing new to Ed Jr., whose father, Ed Sr., was in the perennial business. Ed Jr. and Gayle operated out of their tiny, one-room house that sat on four acres of land on 47th Street in Moline, where we are still located today. 

The hobby business started small, selling just flowers, wreaths and grave blankets for the neighborhood cemetery, Moline Memorial Park. After renovating their house in 1951, Ed and Gayle began selling rose bushes, tulips, and iris bulbs, operating from the kitchen and displaying the plants in their garage.

 

 

At the time, Ed was still working full-time for John Deere Plow Works, but over the next 20+ years, the “hobby” business blossomed into a successful landscape and nursery business catering to the Quad Cities area. After Ed took an early retirement from the factory, business really started to boom. This led our expansion in 1974, when we acquired an additional 16 acres of land to grow and show our stock. At this time, Ed and Gayle planted close to 2000 trees of all different varieties, prompting the name change to Meyer’s Tree Farm. We also expanded our operations that year, moving out of the house and into a newly-built office and warehouse on the land. 

From there, the family business grew and grew. In the mid-1970s, we acquired a large, 140-acre farm in nearby Taylor Ridge to grow nursery stock and expand our inventory. In the late ‘80s, the office expanded again as we on-boarded six landscape designers and an irrigation manager. In 1999, the garden center was remodeled into what our customers know and love today, and our name was changed one final time to Meyer Landscape & Design Inc., to better reflect all of the landscape services we offer. 

 

 

A Family Business

To say that we’re a family business is certainly an understatement. Not only did it start out that way with Ed Jr. and Gayle, but it has developed into a business that has spanned three generations! Thinking all the way back to Ed Sr. and his passion for perennials, the family’s interest in plants and landscape design has now been passed down through four generations. You could say it’s in our blood. 

It’s for this reason that our business has been so successful. When Ed Jr.’s sons, Jack and Kurt, graduated from the University of Illinois in the ’70s with majors in horticulture, both with the intention of joining the family business, it wasn’t just a hobby anymore—the business had to support their growing families! This is what prompted the purchase of the Taylor Ridge farm. 

Today, Kurt is our CEO and President, the title his brother Jack held before retiring after 40 years in the business. Kurt’s wife and co-owner, Jan, is also a long-time employee, currently serving as our Vice President and Office Manager. Their sons, Evan and Drew, have both joined the team as landscape designers. Though they both have formal education in horticulture and landscape design, their experience goes back much further as they grew up alongside the business.

We take pride in our reputation for long-standing employees, who often stay for years and devote much, if not all, of their career to working here. Relatives or not, every one of our 50+ staff members is a part of the Meyer family. 

 

 

Meyer Landscape and Design Today

Today, we are the leaders of professional landscape design and installation in the Quad Cities area, with our knowledge and skills rooted in 7 decades of experience. We offer complete landscape design and installation services, including irrigation, lighting, and many other design elements, for homes, businesses, and public grounds. 

Our knowledgeable staff includes designers, horticulturists, and installation crews that will take you through the entire project, start to finish. You can be as involved or uninvolved as you’d like—we often assist our clients with the design aspect, providing them with the tools and resources they need to complete the project on their own. 

 

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Whether you’re looking to do some simple softscaping with new perennials, hardscaping with outdoor lighting or landscaping stones, or you’re looking for a total design overhaul, no job is too big or too small. Celebrate 70 years of knowledge and make your vision come to life with Meyer Landscape & Design. 

 

 

 

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