Yoder will soon be Aris

Chris Beytes

Effective July 1, Yoder Brothers Inc. will change its name to Aris. And that’s about all that will change, according to Bill Rasbach, president and CEO of the 85-year-old Barberton, Ohio, company. “We continue to provide the same services and products our customers have come to rely on. All that has really changed is the company name. Although the mum and aster genetics have been sold, we still know mums and we still offer them for sale, along with our other product lines.”

You’ll recall that Syngenta bought Yoder’s mum and aster assets last October in a surprise split of the company. They also got the Yoder brand name, which meant the original Yoder needed a new name for the remaining business units. Public relations manager Chris Kelleher says they hired an outside agency that came up with several different names.

They liked Aris because it was short and easy (“some of the names were three or four syllables,” Chris says) and it loosely translates to mean “green” and/or “growing” from Latin. And of course plant names are Latin, “which was kind of a nice tie-in,” she adds.

Of course the most obvious reason for Aris? “It’s at the other end of the alphabet from Yoder!” Chris jokes.

Also getting new names will be Yoder Brothers’ three business units:

• Green Leaf Plants will provide U.S. and Canadian growers with starter plants and pre-finished products for perennials and other plants, including azaleas, tropical hibiscus, hydrangeas, mandevillas, poinsettias, roses, exacum, gloxinia, lisianthus and pentas.

• Keepsake Plants will produce finished potted plants for retail across North America. The unit specializes in fresh, high quality azaleas, chrysanthemums, Fleurettes, tropical hibiscus, mandevillas, hydrangeas, poinsettias, Easter lilies, Persian violets and other flowering plants, including perennials.

• Aris Horticultural Services is the sales and marketing organization of Aris. Its sales representatives offer a wide range of products and services, including those available through Green Leaf Plants and Keepsake Plants, as well as a complete line of brokered products from a large network of affiliated producers.