William Rotolante: Silver Krome Gardens Nursery

From generation to generation, the love of plants gets passed along. There is no better example of this than at Silver Krome Gardens in Florida. William Rotolante is the second generation of his family to work on the nursery his father started. 

“When you own a nursery, you have to be a jack of all trades. You have to be an electrician. You have to be a marketer. You have to be a grower. You have to be an accountant. You have to be a little bit of everything.”

The family business had some rough patches over the years - namely, being hit by Hurricane Andrew in the 90s, just as they were putting in their fourth ever greenhouse. 

“We were able to rise from literally nothing and rebuild. Thanks to my father's love of plants and his passion for plants.”

William’s son has already started following in his footsteps. He was practically raised at the nursery, growing up with his dad bringing him to work, and now is old enough to actually help out a bit during the summer months. 

This reminds William of the summers he spent working for his father. He’s thankful for the hard work ethic and life lessons that he was given during that time, and hopes that he can not only pass those along to his son, but eventually the family business. 

“As my father always said, plants don't take vacation.”

A film by Jacopo Fantastichini.