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Oglevee partners with California ranch

By James Pletcher Jr. 4 min read

A West Coast company and a local firm have completed a merger of sorts, giving both new opportunities for growth. The Paul Ecke Ranch of Encinitas, Calif., and Oglevee Limited of Connellsville now are working together to integrate their production, sales, marketing, breeding and Oglevee’s patented “CVI’ (culture-virus indexing) clean stock system.

According to the two companies, the transaction includes Oglevee’s products, breeding programs and clean stock systems. Oglevee’s production facilities will continue to be independently owned and operated by Oglevee Ltd., and they will continue to support the supply of quality rooted cuttings and clean stock available through Ecke’s sales and distribution systems.

Richard C. Oglevee, Oglevee Ltd. executive vice president, explained Paul Ecke Ranch “bought our breeding program in California, a breeding station that we lease.

“This is more of a merger, even though we are separate companies, but we both had to get bigger and this is how we accomplished it.’

Oglevee explained that his family’s operation and members of the Paul Ecke Ranch, also a family business, “have known one another for years.

“We are not going anywhere. With all the stuff they have, we are going to grow. We may even be looking at new greenhouses here and other facilities.

“They (Paul Ecke Ranch) have been telling us they have 600 species they want cleaned up. That’s species, not varieties. Each specie has about 50 varieties, so, you can see there is a lot of work for us to do,’ Oglevee explained.

The Oglevee operation in Fayette County includes greenhouses and other facilities on Route 201 and along Oglevee Lane, near Connellsville.

Oglevee Ltd. traces its roots to founder Robert Oglevee, who began growing a variety of flowers in about 1870.

J. Robert Oglevee, one of his descendants, while studying floriculture at Cornell University in the late 1940s, became interested in the commercial application of growing clean stock or disease-free plants. He developed processes that eventually helped the industry eliminate performance-robbing geranium diseases. The process also shortened the growing time that allowed the former West Coast production of geraniums to be moved eastward.

Today, Oglevee Ltd. is the world’s largest producer of cutting geraniums and employs about 180 people at all its sites. The company has partners in Canada and ships product all over the world.

Although famous for its geraniums, Oglevee has expanded its business to offer impatiens (New Guinea and double), begonia (hiemalis, Doublet and Solenia), kalanchoe, streptocarpus, carnation and poinsettias, moving Oglevee Ltd. to a major North American producer.

In recent years, Oglevee has been an honoree and supplier of flowers for the Geranium Festival in Connellsville, something Oglevee said the company “will absolutely continue to support.’

Richard Oglevee explained the local company cleans up flowers, while Paul Ecke Ranch handles breeding. “We don’t do breeding here because the environment is not right for it.’

He added that Paul Ecke Ranch “is the number one supplier of poinsettias. We weren’t quite as big. But (with the merger) we will increase by about 200,000 plants this summer. We are filling those orders from Connellsville.

“Outwardly, you won’t see any real change in our operation here. Except, maybe, more greenhouses being built.’

Both companies are private, family-owned operations, so Oglevee declined discussing annual sales or the economics of the deal with Paul Ecke Ranch.

However, he said the local firm’s annual sales “are easily over $15 million a year.’

“We welcome Oglevee’s customers, products and breeding, sales and clean stock teams to the Ecke Ranch. Oglevee’s strong brand, together with their world renowned reputation for clean stock management, complements and enhances Ecke Ranch’s existing products,” Paul Ecke III, chief executive officer of Paul Ecke Ranch, stated in a press release.

“With this acquisition, Ecke will be integrating a time proven, expert production and delivery system of certified clean stock cuttings, that is driven on customer satisfaction.”

“By leveraging Ecke’s offshore production expertise, logistics and sales and marketing strength, Oglevee’s customers will realize enhanced service and value, as well as increased access to significant new products in the future. This is truly a winning combination for our mutual customers,” said Lou Schenck, Oglevee Ltd. president.

This acquisition makes Ecke the only North America-based company breeding and producing geraniums and poinsettias.

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