Francis Véron’s family business is based in Avrainville with 13 000m² of greenhouses, essentially devoted to bedding plants, chrysanthemums and hyacinths with a growing number of hanging plants and planted jardinières to complete the horticultural business he runs with his sister Claudia. Now 40, he has been running the business his grandfather founded in the 1950s for the last two years. Today, he employs six people and trains two apprentices every year. “We can no longer afford to have employees who are barely competent,” explains Francis Véron, who considers that a sense of observation is the most important qualification of any horticulturist.
“We have to be attentive on a daily basis to obtain top quality plants,” he continues. He loves plants that are “nicely rounded, firm and resistant.” His clientele includes garden centres, landscape gardeners, monumental masons and local authorities, to whom he sometimes loans new varieties to test. He does about 20% of his turnover at Rungis and like his colleagues he goes there three times a week .
