History
Chronicle
Adolph Dietrich Lappen (1870-1939)
On the 20th October 1894 Adolph Dietrich Lappen, at the age of 24 years, applied to Kaldenkirchen council for building application for a dispatch building at Herrenpfad 14, where the company still has its principal office. The residential building and the office were built next to the dispatch building around the turn of the century.
Since the plants were not to be just sold locally, Adolph Dietrich Lappen selected from his property the building that was the closest to Kaldenkirchen railway station (the main route being Cologne - Venlo - Amsterdam, the next Kempen - Krefeld).
The first plants were sold in the autumn of 1898. The staff quickly increased to 7-10 persons. In the beginnings the company was called „Adolph Dietrich Lappen – Baum- und Rosenschule“ - the company has never been registered as a trade and is still conducted as an agricultural company.
Since a good tree nursery calls for rootstock for fruit and berry bushes, Adolph Dietrich Lappen ensured the necessary accommodating of the stools. The stools that still prevail of Tilia europaea 'Pallida Typ Lappen' were planted in 1895, so the story goes, and even then were unfailingly successful in their production of shoots. For a number of decades, kilometre-long avenues of these lime trees were delivered to Westphalia, to Münsterland and to the area of Hanover. Even today they are distinctive for these regions. Elms, plane trees and others suitable for the lining of long avenues were grown from cuttings, graftings and seeds. For decades, espalier fruit trees were then one of the specialities of the company.
In 1905 an orchard of exemplary quality was planted, the main fruit being the pear, the 'Charneu delicious'. In the years of destitution, 1916-1920 and 1940-1949, this orchard played an important part in supplying the family and provided the means to additional earnings.
In the main, Adolph Dietrich Lappen was a self-taught man in the matter of horticulture, a fact that was in no way detrimental to his reputation as an expert.
He was married to Olga Lappen née Janssen. Two daughters were born of this marriage, Wilhelmine and Christine. And then in 1911 a son, Friedolf († 1944). Since in those days, at the beginning of the last century, only a son was ever considered to be heir, it was intended from the very beginning that Friedolf would take over the Nurseries.
Friedolf Lappen (1911-1944)
Friedolf Lappen received his trained at a variety of locations (Oberpleis, Meckenheim) and Schleswig-Holstein, acquired a wealth of experience and qualified as master craftsman in Friesdorf near Bonn.
Friedolf Lappen expanded and introduced new facets to the tree Nuseries. In 1939 the first conifers featured in the product range. Yet the outbreak of war that year made an end of this promising development. Friedolf Lappen was conscripted to the army. In 1940 he married Gertrud Lorbach. Two sons were born of the marriage: Ado (born 1941) and Dieter (born 1943), the present owner of the company. Once called up, Friedolf only saw his Nurseries on rare occasions. On the 1st April 1944 he fell in Moldavia.
Gertrud Lappen (1914-2008; 1940 entry into the company)
From November 1944 to July 1945 Kaldenkirchen was completely evacuated. During this period, the Nurseries was neglected and became overgrown, all the employees having been called up.
In July 1945 Gertrud Lappen returned to the family home at Herrenpfad. The residential and office buildings as well as the Nurseries fields had been badly damaged by artillery fire. During post-war years, the growth of trees, roses and shrubs was forbidden by the Allied Forces.
With the help of her employees, Gertrud Lappen had to focus on vegetables in place of her tree Nurseries. During these years, swap transactions (apples for cement, nails and construction wood etc.) were the only chance of obtaining materials. Here the standard pear orchard planted by Adolph Dietrich Lappen proved to be a continual back-up source for food and swap transactions. No words can describe the achievements of Gertud Lappen during these years.
On the 11th February 1949 she married the Nurseries craftsman Heinz Schmidt. And now, with the ravages of war over, work could begin oon restoring the old tree Nurseries.
Dieter Lappen (*1943; 1968 acceptance of the management)
After full training and qualification as master craftsman in Friesdorf near Bonn, Dieter Lappen took over Lappen Tree Nurseries in 1968, at the time 25 years old. Given the fact that the tree Nurseries and its well-balanced range of products was very well known, it in fact expanded to the size it is now, with over 100 employees. The area around Kaldenkirchen is often kokingly referred to today as 'Lappland' given the wide expanse of the fields.
Christian Lappen (*1972)
Christian, one of Dieter Lappen's three sons, joined the Nurseries in 2001 - it is thus assured that the company Lappen will remain in family hands.