Burpee Seeds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Burpee Seeds, officially W. Atlee Burpee & Co., was founded by W. Atlee Burpee in 1878. Originally selling garden seeds as well as farm supplies, tools, and even poultry and hogs, the direction of the company began to change with the death of its founder in 1915.
His son, David Burpee, took over the company upon his father's death. He was interested in War or victory gardens and was an early promoter of the concept during the Great War. He also brought his interest in flowers to the forefront of the companies priorities and initiated several flower breeding programs.
In 1970, David Burpee sold his company to General Foods.
In 1974, Burpee moved from its north Philadelphia location to its current headquarters at 300 Park Ave. in suburban Warminster, around the same time that SEPTA extended its (now R2) commuter rail line to Warminster, as the train station is almost directly across Park Ave. from Burpee's headquarters.
In 1979 the company passed to ITT. David Burpee remained as a consultant until his death in June of 1984. In 1991 the Burpee company was acquired by George J. Ball, Inc., a diversified horticultural family business. Jonathan Burpee, the founder's grandson, was the last family member to work for the company. He was fired by Ball in 1993. The company still maitains the original Burpee farm in Doylestown, Pa, where notable varieties such as Iceberg lettuce and Big Boy Tomato were bred.
The company currently distributes vegetable, flower and herb seeds as well as garden and plant accessories to home gardeners.
George Ball, Chairman, President and C.E.O. of W. Atlee Burpee & Company
George Ball was born in the suburbs of Chicago and is the son of Carl Ball, one of four brothers who led the Ball Seed Company, founded in Illinois by their father in 1902. As a boy, Mr. Ball began harvesting petunia seed for the Ball Seed Company and during high school and college he worked for the company in Illinois as well as several years in Costa Rica with the legendary plant breeder, Claude Hope. After studying at Bard College and DePaul University, he joined Ball Seed as an assistant grower. Then he took a market management assignment at Pan American Seed, where he worked from 1980 to 1992, eventually serving as its president for 7 years. It was Pan American Seed that had introduced the popular impatiens ‘Super Elfin’ during the 1960s. The pioneering of modern garden plants was continued by Mr. Ball and his associates with the development of the New Guinea impatiens, ‘Tango’ – winner of the All America Award – and the development of ‘African Queen’, the world’s first yellow impatiens cultivar. He also introduced the first F1 hybrid anemone from seed, ‘Mona Lisa’, in Holland and Japan. In 1990, Mr. Ball acquired Vegmo, the Ball Holding Company's first seedling grower in Europe, and in 1991, the W. Atlee Burpee & Company. In 1998, he purchased the ancestral home of the Burpee family, Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In 2000, he purchased Heronswood, the most prestigious rare-plant nursery in the world. In 2006, Mr. Ball moved the production operation to Pennsylvania leaving the famous garden intact.
He is chairman, president and chief executive officer of W. Atlee Burpee & Company. He is also president and treasurer of The Burpee Foundation, a philanthropic organization headquartered in New York City. His non-profit activities also include the Presidency of the American Horticultural Society (1990-1993) — the youngest to serve in its history — and service on the board of trustees of Bard College, The Orme School, The National Gardening Association and The Horticultural Society of New York. Ball speaks to gardeners regularly through his blog, Heronswood Voice http://www.heronswoodvoice.com. He is also very accessible to his employees.
His many awards include the Wilfred Jung Distinguished Service Award from the Garden Writers Association of America, The Outstanding Achievement Award from the Horticulture Society of New York, the President's Medal of Appreciation from the American Horticultural Society, and the "Design 100" from Metropolitan Home magazine.
His numerous editorials and opinion articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Boston Herald, among others.
In February of 2004, Mr. Ball organized the largest vegetable seed relief shipment in history—over 2,500 lbs. of onion, squash and tomato seeds—to over 20 agricultural research stations in Iraq, working with the Coalition Partnership Authority and United States Department of Defense. In 2005, Mr. Ball helped organize a seminar on the United States Constitution in Erbil, Iraq, in conjunction with The Hudson Institute.
