Charle Dorman, the inspiration behind Beautiful Plants by Charlie, has his roots in farming, and his family is continuing the tradition.
By JAY CRIDLIN
Published May 14, 2004
THONOTOSASSA - The days have long passed since Charlie Dorman was an integral, day-to-day force in the cultivation of his millions of flowers.
He has trouble walking. His doctor told him he's not to do any heavy lifting. His children are perfectly capable of running the business in his absence.
Still, Dorman, 77, is in the office every day, playing with dogs and puttering around his 10-acre Thonotosassa nursery in a golf cart.
He shrugs. "What am I going to do, sit at home and play solitaire?"
When you've been in the business as long as Dorman, it's not easy to walk away. For more than 55 years, he has sold begonias, impatiens and germaniums in Hillsborough County through his farm, Beautiful Plants by Charlie Inc.
He's sold millions of dollars' worth of flowers, watching his plants survive frosts, storms and at least three tornadoes. Most of that money has gone back into his family-run farm, which now operates in Thonotosassa.
"I've done nothing but this," Dorman says.
The business is in his family's blood.
Dorman's parents sold palms and azaleas in Seminole Heights; when he retured from a Naval stint in the South Pacific during World War II, he joined them.
During the 1940s, he founded Beautiful Plants by Charlie near what is now the University of South Florida. He later moved to a farm in Temple Terrace, then to his current location on County Road 579, where he's been for more than 20 years.
In all those years, Dorman can remember only four times he's had to part ways with an unsatisfied customer. In fact, once, many years ago, when his farm was destroyed by a storm, his customers lent him the credit he needed to start from scratch.
Dorman, his ex-wife Lou and three of their children now run the farm. Working with his ex-wife has never been difficult, Dorman says - the two raised four children before divorcing on the eve of their 30th anniversary. They still talk and laugh each day.
This year, Dorman expects to bring in about $750,000 in plant sales, though most of that will be pumped into supplies and production.
When younger farmers stop by seeking advice on starting a farm, Charlie and Lou are never shy about telling them how difficult the work is.
"You know what the advice is?" Lou says. "Try something else."
The work, Dorman says, is difficult. All of the Dormans work hard at their craft, sometimes as much as 70 hours a week. Charlie likens other nurseries to hospitals, whereas Beautiful Plants is more like a maternity ward.
"We've got to have somebody standing over it at all time," he said. "You have to be here on Christmas and Mother's Day and Easter. Somebody's got to do all the watering and take care of this place when it's closed up."
There are times, he says, when eastern Hillsborough's growth can be intimidating, even for a man who's been farming for six decades. He lives in Valrico, not far from the mammoth garden center at Home Depot, and realizes larger farms now have an edge in the business.
"We've had several real large growers that's come in here, national organizations that go everywhere," he said. "We can't compete with that on 10 acres or so."
Given his longtime customer base, it's likely Dorman won't have to. He plans to stick around the nursery as long as he can.
"If I retire," he says, "the kids are going to stay out here. They're not going to close. We don't anticipate closing."
