Floréac is celebrating its 70th anniversary and we want to honour it! To mark this milestone, we have invited some of our loyal partners to look back together on the unique development of our cooperation across generations. And that’s not all: for this special occasion, we present our exclusive promotion “70 Years – 70 Days of Deals!” Don’t miss this unique opportunity and celebrate with us!
Commercial nursery De Mol – Verlee had their start-up in 1991. Even then, it was considered one of the mavericks of the flower municipality, Lochristi. The power couple, Frank De Mol and Els Verlee, are behind the beautiful crop of Hedera helix. They started with just under 3,000 sq m and every 3 years 2000 sq m was added (today a total area of 11,000 sq m) Growth and innovation in the company is essential.
Frank, the grower of the two, dreamt of a greenhouse full of greenery since childhood. He graduated from the horticultural school in Wetteren, but is schooling himself every day. He went on exchange to Florida and there he got to know the craft of Hedera helix.
Els, the driving force of sales, stepped into her husband’s story. Els knows how to deal, so you can see her at almost every fair both at home and abroad. She ensures the ideal and honest relationship between customer and seller.
What can you tell us about the pioneering period at the beginning of working with Floréac?
Our cooperation was built over a period of 34 years.
Frank De Mol (Managing Director): “Even as a 12-year-old young farm boy, I was fascinated in flora and fauna. Through the father of a childhood friend, I sometimes visited the flower auction at Aalsmeer, VBA now called Flora Holland.
My parents’ farm was surrounded by numerous azalea farms. However, among that wall of glass, there was one maverick growing Hedera ‘Gloire De Marengo’. I found that so ‘amazing’ that I might have unwittingly taken my first steps into Hedera cultivation.
As a muskrat catcher, I could be spotted in my parents’ fields every day after school. On my trip, I wiped away a little more shadow chalk from the greenhouse glass each time to get a view into that climbing greenhouse.
So pretty soon I had the dream of starting my own family business.
Through horticultural school and a final paper at the time when the Red Devils had won fourth place at the World Cup’86 in Mexico, I first entered the walls of Floréac through an uncle. All those flowers and plants brought me back to seventh heaven.
My thesis was about ‘commercialisation in floriculture’. Flora Holland Aalsmeer, wholesaler Marion in Lokeren and Floréac NV were among the six nominees to bring my thesis to a good result.”
How many generations does this go back in your company’s history?
Frank De Mol (Managing Director): A first generation was born in 1991! After a market survey of many local dealers, my wife Els and I set out as early twenty-somethings to make a dream come true. No more scratching away chalk to spot ivy but working in it daily.
As neither of us had inherited any backpacks from father to son or daughter, this was not without its problems. Soon we were confronted with tough business and supposed collegiality between the then 20 or so companies was very far away.
Floréac as a family-owned company was the first we had a trusting relationship with fairly quickly.
Continuity and blind ordering also figured in our partnership 34 years ago.
The trust we gained on base came from a mutual respect and felt the same way when we later got to know Etienne, Marc, Geert as well as cousins and related family better.
How has the business relationship developed over the years?
To this day, we try not to embarrass the relationship with Floréac and try to think along in an even better cooperation.
As the first generation quietly passes into a second, we are quite proud to report that our daughter Nette is also passionate about plants.
An evolution of several decades has changed our commercial relationship a lot. The Internet and computers have reduced the man-to-man conversation to a bit of nostalgia. Driving back and forth daily to bring our plants to your home base ‘Lozen Boer’ may partly overrule this hypothesis.
Nevertheless, we are convinced that personal contact between relations will remain very important so that all wishes and needs can be better coordinated.
In doing so, we would like to conclude with a slogan by Charles Darwin that we have been using on our site for 25 years.
‘It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that can adapt best.’
