Doebel's Flowers part of local lore For 92 years, family has helped to grow memories

Doebel's Flowers has been serving Clyde and the surrounding communities since 1916 when founder Arthur Doebel first moved his greenhouse business here from Norwalk.

While much has changed in the past 92 years, much has stayed the same. A visit to Doebel's Flowers is like traveling back to a simpler and friendlier time when personal service and quality were the norm rather than the exception.

Third generation owner-operator Clifford Doebel and wife, Cheryl have been growing and managing the business, with the help of their children, Eric, Erica and son-in-law Jason Holcomb, since taking over from his parents Wilbur and Marie in 1986.

Doebel's grows over 90 percent of the products it sells in its two acres of greenhouses.

Whether purchasing seedlings, vegetable starts, hanging baskets, bedding annuals or specialty potted flowers, customers can rest assured that all plants offered for sale are grown specifically for the area from tried and true varieties.

Dan Hohman took over the role of Head Grower at Doebel's 11 years ago upon completion of his degree from Ohio State University's Agriculture and Technical Institute in Wooster.

Hohman begins sowing seeds in January, with the help of a vacuum seeder, into 273-cell plug trays. At the peak of the spring season, the greenhouse is bursting with over a quarter of a million seedling plugs waiting to be transplanted to fill the needs of their customers.

Over the course of the growing season, the greenhouse produces in excess of one-half million seedlings in more than 500 varieties.

In addition to being a full service greenhouse, Doebel's Flowers also provides floral service for all occasions.

Floral shop manager Marilyn Wastler has been with the company for 22 years and although she has seen many changes in the florist trade over the years, one thing has never changed at Doebel's - personalized customer service.

Doebel's is an authorized broker for both Tele-Flora and FTD generated orders.

The majority of Doebel's employees have been associated with the company for many years and, all combined, offer their customers more than 300 years of experience.