A brother and a boss: heir apparent. (CEO Watch).

Family businesses can be very difficult, concedes Horace Hagedorn, the 87-year-old patriarch of Stern's Miracle-Gro Products, now part of The Scotts Co.

All but one of Horace's six children began their careers at Miracle-Gro, which went public in 1995 when it merged with Scotts, the $1.7 billion lawn and garden manufacturer in Marysville, Ohio. The acquisition gave the Hagedorn heirs three board seats and 42 percent of Scotts stock.

It also recast family relationships. As Miracle-Gro transitioned into a large public company, an evolution of leadership roles took place among the Hagedorn heirs.

Jim and Kate, fraternal twins and middle children, embraced the duties of running a public company. Jim joined Scotts as an executive vice president more than five years ago. In 1999, Kate became chairman of the Hagedorn Partnership, a trust that holds the family's stock, and joined the Scotts board in July 2000. A younger brother, Paul, designs packaging in the art department. Other brothers and sisters, made wealthy by their stakes, drifted away to pursue other interests.

Last year, Scotts named 46-year-old Jim Hagedorn CEO.

"Jim's happy, but I think that deep down, there's a little jealousy [among the other children]," reflects Horace. "It can't be helped. That's one reason we don't talk about business at the dinner table. Because Rob, Susan, Peter, they're not in the circle. If the subject is a business matter, we treat them like shareholders."

Kate says Jim's ascension pleased the other siblings. Before the merger, however, the eldest son in the Hagedorn clan, Peter, 58, left Miracle-Gro because, according to a person close to the family, he couldn't not be a son. "Working in a family business is like working at home," Jim says. "It's kind of unprofessional and people think they can scream at each other."

"It's a classic family situation: the elder brother...another brother," Kate remarks. "Some sibling rivalry had to be put to bed." Peter now works on philanthropic projects that benefit Latin-American schoolchildren and small-business owners. He couldn't be reached for comment.

"You can't change the fact that you work for your old man or your brother," says Jim, who believes the seven years he spent as an F-16 pilot in the Air Force after college taught him chain of command. "But at the end of the day, the boss makes the decision."

Indeed, at the end of the day, if Jim's performance ever faltered, his sister would be responsible for voting to terminate him. "I have a loaded gun under my skirt," says Kate. "I think that's why I was sent to the table [by the siblings]. We all understand that."