Like many seed companies in the Home Garden Seed Association, Floragran is a family business. Peter Hansen, the company’s general manager, talked of how his father and his father’s father both worked in the seed trade, beginning in the 1930s. his father founded Floragran in 1977, producing hybrid varieties according to specifications provided by breeders. As time went on, Floragran expanded its domain to include the production of open-pollinated seed types. In recent years, the company has been doing some breeding on its own, as well as producing seeds for external breeders. Their operations are worldwide.

Peter Hansen, a third-generation seedsman, scouts the world for good seed production locations. He began working at Floragran in 1986, starting with cleaning seed, a crucial component of the seed business that he still takes part in when he can. The company’s production line is organized into specialty seed that is produced with a high degree of control in greenhouses, and commodities for the packet and wildflower trades that can be produced outdoors at a lower cost. Either way, the goal is always to maintain and if possible improve on the quality of seed produced and sold, whether starting from their own stockseed, or from stock provided by customers.

One of our big challenges is finding new production locations,” Hansen remarks. “We compete with agricultural products for growing fields,” he explains. So, for example, if the price of corn is high, it might not be advantageous for growers to put their land to use growing flowers for seed production. Growers might be found in Europe, Africa, China, India, Costa Rica, or any place around the world with suitable conditions. “We start with field trials and go from there,” says Hansen.

For a company that does business in more than 20 countries, the staff is remarkably small. Currently, just 12 employees take care of contracting with and overseeing growing locations, managing the in-house seed cleaning facility, maintaining good quality control, selling seed worldwide, and all of the other demands of a global business. As is typical in the seed business, employees are loyal and longstanding. “Two employees have been with us for over 35 years,” Hansen notes, “and a couple of others have worked here for 25 years.

In his off time, Hansen likes to keep moving. Every summer, he and his wife and daughter travel 10 hours by car from their home 11⁄2 hour east of Amsterdam to Italy. At home he has a big garden—he had just finished planting a few hundred tulips—a motorbike, and a convertible. Three to four times a year, he enjoys trips to the US and parts of Europe for business.

One of the things that makes this business fun,” says Hansen, “is the recognition we get for some of the plants we breed.” Fleuroselect Gold Medal winners bred by Floragran include Myosotis ‘Bellamy Blue’, a unique dark blue variety of forget-me-not, and ‘Queeny Lime Orange’ zinnia, a show-stopping large zinnia with unique color gradations. Gaultheria procumbens ‘Many Berry’ was recently recognized for its exceptionally heavy fruit production. Hansen also enjoys the friendly competition that the seed business is known for. “It’s like a big family. My competitors are also my friends.” Perhaps most of all, Hansen gets pleasure from knowing that Floragran can take just a few plants and produce, over time, a large quantity of seed. “So many people can grow a plant in their gardens that we’ve selected and produced!” he exclaims. “That’s neat.”