Chen Tai-ming introduces seedlings in one of the company's nurseries in Xiamen.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"He was almost 60 years old at that time, and his mindset had changed from solely focusing on financial gains to pursuing something that was more sentimental to him and didn't harm the environment," Chen Tai-ming said.

"Almost everyone my father met in Xiamen spoke a dialect similar to the one spoken in Taiwan, and people were very friendly, making him feel like he had returned to his childhood days. So he settled in the city and bought a piece of land to start doing what he loved," he said.

As far back as Chen Tai-ming can remember, his father had always been fond of plants, and the terrace of their house in Taiwan would be like a small garden, with plants and bonsai adorning it.

In 1999, a typhoon followed by a sudden frost struck the garden in Xiamen. "Almost everything got destroyed, but my father refused to leave as he had a deep emotional connection with those plants," Chen Hsiu-yu recalled.

So the siblings started helping out, gaining knowledge in horticulture management and gradually taking over their father's company.

In 2016, when Typhoon Meranti hit Xiamen, 70 percent of the trees got blown away. They used the tree trunks to make tables and chairs, and even pavilions which have remained there ever since.

"They give us a sense of mutual support in life and death, just like an inheritance from our father," Chen Hsiu-yu said. "We see trees growing from a sapling to its full size in this courtyard. When it's alive, it's lush and verdant. Even after it dies, we still see it before our eyes. It's a support for us, whether alive or dead."