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Farm Manager
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Gary Henderson
Classic Caladiums
Employees are the
heart of our business
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From its inception in 2000 Classic Caladiums
(A division of
Abbott-IPCO, Inc. Dallas, Texas) has distinguished
itself as professional producer of caladium bulbs and
pre-finished potted caladiums. All of our starting production
stock came from selected tissue cultured/cloned stock. The
advantages of tissue culture stock are many and include disease
elimination, rapid build up of numbers and stock rejuvenation.
In fact our name is a reference to the rejuvenation afforded by
the tissue culture process that causes our product to perform
similar to how it did when it was first developed by the
breeder. Many commercial caladium varieties were developed in
the 1800’s and therefore our product is like a restored
“Classic”. Besides cleaning up and rejuvenating old varieties,
we have launched a number of new varieties that have been
patented and are available exclusively from Classic. We are
also active cooperators with the University of Florida and other
research institutes and botanical gardens around the US.
Our main
farm is in Zolfo Springs, FL and our state of the art office,
processing and warehouse complex is located in Avon Park, FL.
Our staff
includes:
(Click on any photo to enlarge)
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Gary
Henderson – Farm Manager
Gary has
been a farmer all his life and has worked for Classic since we
began our farming on sand land. In addition to his excellent
farming skills, Gary has provided many mechanical developments
for our farming (inc. our bulb washer) and warehouse (inc. the
industries most efficient bulb grader) operations.
Email: ghenderson@classiccaladiumsllc.com |
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Mike
Woods – Warehouse Manager
Mike is a
horticultural graduate from the University of Florida. Besides
site manager of our warehouse facility, Mike also heads up our
foliage and pre-finish caladium programs. Mike is a great
grower having experience with large bedding plant and tissue
culture operations. We believe our pre-finished pot caladium
program offers great growth opportunities for the company.
Email: mwoods@classiccaladiumsllc.com |
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Robert
(Bob) D. Hartman – President and
CEO.
Bob is a University of Florida graduate with degrees in Plant
Pathology and Entomology and a minor in Ornamental
Horticulture. Upon graduation, Bob joined the Ball Seed
Company. In 1977 he established his own plant cloning business
which he sold to Ciba Geigy in 1984. Bob has worked for or
managed several major horticultural businesses including, among
others, Twyford International Inc.
Email: bhartman@classiccaladiumsllc.com |
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Rachel
Wright – Bookkeeper
Rachel is a
great no nonsense bookkeeper and a real asset to our company
financial management. Rachel has many business related
experiences including managing the books for her husband’s
business.
Email: rwright@classiccaladiumsllc.com |
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Virginia
Ortegon – Shipping Supervisor
Virginia has been with the company almost from the beginning.
Having extensive experience in grading and packing caladiums,
before joining Classic, Virginia is a real asset. Virginia runs
a clean tight shipping department. |
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Production Crew
Thanksgiving 2010
Keeping Classic's extensive farming
operation going all year long |
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Ofilia
Gamez –
Bulb Washing, Weeding and
Rogueing Supervisor
Ofilia is responsible for the bulbs coming from the
field to be clean and properly labeled. During
the growing season she supervises the hand weeding
crew and is responsible for the purity of the
varieties by rogueing out contaminating varieties
(volunteers from the previous crop) and off-types
(plants that may have mutated). Ofilia is a
big part of the consistent performance of Classic
bulbs. |
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Robert W. Hartman
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Assistant Warehouse Manager
and Special Research Projects Coordinator.
Robert is the son of Bob and
was the first employee to join Classic in January of
2000. Robert is a Webber International University
graduate in Marketing with a minor in Agricultural
Business. Robert handles much of the warehouse
operations (inc. bulb drying and curing, grading and
inventory management). We hand cut and plant 40+
acres of special requirement varieties each year
which Robert coordinates.
Email: rhartman@classiccaladiumsllc.com |
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