About Us

History of the "Černý Seed Company"

The story of the company began all the way back in 1859, five generations ago, when it was founded by the ancestor of the current owners, the passionate gardener and seed trader Ferdinand Hlaváček (1822–1897). In 1896, his daughter married František Černý (1865–1925), who had been trained as a castle gardener and who had even worked in the famous gardens of Baron Rothschild in Vienna. He was a true master of the art of flower arrangement.

In 1928, František Černý (1896–1968) and Marie Černá (1903–1987), the next generation of gardeners, started to specialise in breeding and production of seeds, especially of petunias and begonias. Their first success came in 1934 when the original petunia variety Karkulka was introduced. František and Marie bred a number of conventional non-hybrid varieties together and managed to gain recognition among the competition of established German seed suppliers.

In 1960, the company was nationalised and it became part of the state-run enterprise Sempra for a long time. The family tradition at this time was developed by the next generation of breeders Ing. Jan Černý (1928–1980) and Alenka Černá (1928–2000). Their names are associated with the creation of the first hybrid varieties of begonias (1959) and petunias (1960) in the then Czechoslovakia. They gradually managed to breed a wide range of hybrid varieties of petunias, spreading tuberous begonias and popular begonias semperflorens.

In 1991, the business was returned to the Černý family within the framework of restitution and continued to build successfully on its past tradition. A representative of the next generation, Jan Černý (1957–2016), also devoted his life to breeding of flowers, breeding a range of modern hybrid varieties of begonia and petunia.

His two sons Jan Černý (1978) and Jakub Černý (1991) currently work in and manage the company. The team of experienced workers, some of which have been working in the company for more than 25 years, guarantees the high quality of seeds produced. The Černý Seed Company is nowadays a highly specialised breeding and seed production company. It focuses intensively on breeding and new varieties are launched onto the market practically every year. The seeds which are produced are constantly gaining in popularity and are successfully distributed to customers all around the world. Since 1934, the Černý family has bred more than 130 original varieties of petunia, begonia, cyclamen, lily-of-the-valley and other types of flowers. Varieties bred in Jaroměř have won several medals at international exhibitions and have been awarded the “Novitas Olomucensis” prize three times. However, the most important thing is the fact that they have retained their popularity among gardeners and flower fans the whole time.