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Gaston Charbonneau was born in 1931 in Saint-Martin (Laval) Quebec into a family of gardeners and florists who had worked on their land for generations. He grew up and lived on the family land until he moved to his own place in Sainte-Dorothée (Laval) in 1954. In 1962, Gaston Charbonneau started out on a new adventure, founding Charbonneau Floral ltd., a company that sold bagged soil and gardening tools and accessories, including flowering plants and vegetables. Taking their products on the road to ensure that they were available and recognized in every city and town in Quebec and the Maritimes, the company was in the vanguard of their industry in Quebec. The business quickly expanded and their products were soon seen on the shelves of 10 000 points of sale in in hardware stores, grocery stores, big box retailers, florists, and nurseries throughout Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritimes. Since Gaston made regular television appearances, when he developed a new product it became known throughout Canada, thanks to his familiar TV tagline, “Parole de Charbonneau, c’est Vitagrow qu’il vous faut.” This slogan increased recognition of the Charbonneau Floral ltd. brand and contributed to company’s growth and ongoing success.
In 1990 Gaston sold his business to his children who continue to run it to this day. With over 50 years of innovation and a wide range of gardening products behind it, Charbonneau Floral ltd. continues to grow, developing new brands —always taking care to offer everyone who loves gardening the best products at the most reasonable, affordable prices. Today, besides selling some of Quebec’s biggest brands Charbonneau Floral ltd. offers a variety of decorative landscaping products such as white stones, crushed clay, volcanic rock, river rocks, decorative mulch, gravel, etc. A new range of products, such as abrasives sold under the brand name Antiskid and heating products such as firewood, environmentally friendly logs and fire starters under the brand name Xtraflame have been developed for the winter season. Charbonneau Floral ltd. also provides a whole range of products under the brand name Magic Plantation.
Fully computerized, modern equipment ensure that the production process from start to finish — from the transformation of raw materials to the packaging of the final retail products — takes place without any manual adjustments. Production line machinery sifts and mixes soil, bags it in the right packaging, and then packs the finished products on delivery pallets. Three, five, 10, 15 and 30 lb. bags destined for exterior gardens and all kinds of houseplants then take their place in the aisles of big box stores and most hardware and grocery stores. Today, Charbonneau Floral ltd. sells 90% of its products in Canada and the remaining 10% to foreign markets.