For Paul Barco, it’s not the evergreen tree that signals the turn of the holiday season. Instead, it’s the radiant color of a poinsettia. Paul, the production manager for Barco Son, Inc. is the third generation of his family to grow flowers in the northeastern Ohio region.
Located in Medina, Ohio, Barco Sons Inc. grows a variety of plants in 260,000 square feet of greenhouses. The greenhouse was originally founded in Rocky River, Ohio in the 1940s when Paul’s grandfather, John, began growing vegetables to sell at farmers’ markets in Cleveland. John’s three sons would prove to have a green thumb as well, and it was Paul’s father, Arthur, who took an interest in flowers.
“Dad decided he wanted to get into cut flowers. He and his two brothers, Willard and David, incorporated their business in 1965. At that time they had around 60,000 square feet,” Barco said. “Half the greenhouse would be for growing chrysanthemums and the other half for carnations.”