The Plant Company acquires Dragontree founders' Dracaena mutation collection

As Ruud and Agnes Scheffers of Dragontree prepare for retirement, The Plant Company has become the new home for their collection of approximately 150 Dracaena mutations.

Ruud and Agnes began growing Dracaena in the Netherlands in 1985. Over more than four decades, their work has contributed distinctive selections and commercial varieties to the international horticulture industry. What they have built represents what The Plant Company calls "an extraordinary horticultural legacy." 

The collection consists of approximately 150 individual mutations accumulated through the Scheffers’ extensive work with Dracaena. These mutations can exhibit differences in foliage color, variegation, leaf form, growth habit and other characteristics. Each selection will require evaluation to determine its stability, production characteristics and commercial potential.

The Plant Company team will now begin growing, evaluating and learning from the collection.

“This collection represents decades of observation, curiosity and work by Ruud and Agnes,” said Frank Paul, co-founder and COO of The Plant Company. “We are incredibly proud that they have entrusted it to The Plant Company. Our goal is not only to preserve what they have created, but to continue their work and hopefully bring some extraordinary new Dracaena varieties to the market in the years ahead.”

The final portion of the collection is being transferred to The Plant Company’s facilities in Virginia. Once
established, TPC’s team will continue evaluating the material through propagation and production trials, with
the goal of identifying selections with the potential to become future commercial varieties.

Ruud and Agnes began producing their own Dracaena cuttings in the Netherlands after encountering challenges sourcing consistent young plant material from Central America. Their experimentation eventually developed into an international Dracaena program, with Dragontree varieties produced and distributed around the world.

“Ruud and Agnes have spent more than 40 years looking at Dracaena and seeing possibilities,” Paul said. “There is an enormous amount of knowledge and history represented in this collection. We are honored to become its next caretaker and very grateful for the confidence they have placed in us.”

The Plant Company expects development from the collection to be a multi-year effort, with new introductions occurring as individual selections successfully move through evaluation, propagation and production trials.