Page 8 - Indulge December/January 2017
P. 8
family bonds ROOTS AND
RE-VISIONS
Family principles still
rule at Plantique
By Jack Romig
Above
Bruce Fritzinger,
center with poster,
and long time
staff members at
Plantique.
The roots of Plantique, one of the area’s oldest and “We’ve relied on great service and innovation,” Bruce says. Photos by Sarah Evans
best-known landscaping companies, have been “Designing a great landscape is no different from designing
8 | indulge • December/January 2017 reaching down into Lehigh Valley soil for nearly 70 years. a great house. Our approach is that ‘form follows function.’
And the company’s current flowering represents a period of There are always different solutions, and it’s up to us to find
change, as it evolves from one family’s ownership to a new the best one that accomplishes what the client wants.”
management structure that continues to follow that family’s
down-to-earth business principles. Their work has won the Fritzingers many business
The story begins in 1948. Ted Fritzinger was a young and professional awards. They have also been dedicated
veteran who’d parlayed his GI Bill benefits into what Cornell from the start to community service. Through the years,
University then called a bachelor’s degree in “horticulture they’ve supported the Wildlands Conservancy, the Hispanic
and ornamental floriculture.” Ted returned to his Lehigh American Organization, the Environmental Club at William
Valley home and opened Better Homes Landscape Co. on Allen High School, the Kiwanis and the Jaycees.
Seventh Street in Allentown.
The growth of Better Homes took it through several As any working company must, Plantique has
locations, eventually bringing it to its current 13.5-acre site developed through many changes. Ted sold his ownership
at 6344 Schantz Road, Allentown. stake in the ’90s, but remained involved until his death
Ted focused on excellence in landscape design, but he this year. In 2000, Plantique merged with Forever Green
also emphasized the importance of upkeep. “He always said, Tree and Shrub Maintenance Co. New partners from
‘We don’t want you with a dead plant,’ and he’d replace outside the family joined the firm. Eight years ago, Glenn
Fritzinger, 55, also died.
things that went wrong,” recalls his son, Bruce, who has
spent his working career in the firm. By the second decade of the new century, Bruce was
looking for the right successor to carry on what his family
When Bruce graduated from Penn State in 1970, it had built. Mike Ronzano, who’d been an executive with a
was time for a transformation. Bruce’s brother, Glenn, had corporate landscape maintenance giant, became Plantique’s
already developed an excavating business, and the brothers general manager. Eventually, he purchased the company.
joined with their dad to create Plantique.
Ronzano has overseen a broad reorganization of the
This family plan also included Bruce’s mother, Jean, who company. He has maintained the core landscape design
was secretary and bookkeeper for some years, and Ted’s and development parts of the business, and their way of
brother, Luther, who worked in the nursery until he was 92 doing things.
years old. Glenn’s son, Zion, and Bruce’s son, Alan, also
worked summers in the business. Basic to the Plantique Bruce Fritzinger, last of the family still in the business,
plan has been vertical integration. With their own dedicated says he’ll be on the job for two more years. But he’s not
nursery, integrated excavation capabilities, design team, and headed for a rocking chair. He’ll attend to philanthropic
landscape installation services, the Fritzingers have brought interests, and expects to enjoy the three months he spends
under one roof most functions their clients require. each year in Spain, where he has an apartment. Still ahead
is a plan to “buy out land from my father’s old place, and I’ll
probably develop it.”
