Burpee Seeds, officially W. Atlee Burpee & Co., is a seed company

Seed company

Seed companies produce and sell seeds for flowers, fruit and vegetables to theamateur gardener. The production of seed is a multi billion dollar business, which usesgrowing facilities and growing locations world wide. While most seed is produced by large...

 that was founded by Washington Atlee Burpee in 1876.

History

The company first sold garden seeds, farm supplies, tools, poultry and hogs. The direction of the company began to change with the death of its founder in 1915 when his son, David Burpee

David Burpee

David Burpee was born in Pennsylvania and attended Cornell University until his father died in 1915. Burpee dropped out and took over the family business selling seeds. He immediately began shifting the firm's focus from vegetables to flowers. In 1917 the W. A.. Burpee Company was incorporated...

, inherited the firm. David was interested in war or victory garden

Victory garden

Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply...

s and was an early promoter of the concept during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He also prioritized in flowers and initiated several flower breeding programs.

In 1970, David Burpee sold his company to General Foods

General Foods

General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the USA by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The name General Foods was adopted in 1929, after several corporate acquisitions...

. In 1974, Burpee moved from its north Philadelphia location to its current headquarters at 300 Park Avenue in Warminster, Pennsylvania. SEPTA extended its Warminster Line

Warminster Line

The Warminster Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail commuter rail. It serves stations between its namesake town, Warminster, and Center City, Philadelphia...

 commuter rail to Warminster, the train station being opposite Park Avenue from Burpee's headquarters.

In 1979 the company acquired by ITT

ITT Corporation

ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...

. David Burpee remained as a consultant until his death in June 1980. In 1991 the Burpee company was acquired by George Ball

George Ball (Burpee)

George Carl Ball Jr. is an American seedsman who has served as chairman and CEO of W. Atlee Burpee since 1991. After studying at Bard College and DePaul University, he joined Ball Seed in the late 1970s. He later worked as a marketing executive at Pan American Seed, where he was named that...

, Inc., a diversified horticultural family business. Jonathan Burpee, the founder's grandson, was the last Burpee family member to work for the company. The company maintains the original Burpee farm, Fordhook Farms, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Doylestown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 8,380. The borough is the county seat of Bucks County.- History :...

, where notable varieties such as Iceberg lettuce and Big Boy tomato were bred.

The company currently sells seeds and garden accessories to home gardeners.

White Marigold

In its 1954 catalog, W. Atlee Burpee & Co. first advertised a competition for the development of the first white marigold flower, offering $10,000 to any gardener whose efforts produced a flower deemed to be pure white. 21 years later, the prize was awarded to 67-year old Alice Vonk of Sully, Iowa, who received $100 the previous year as one of six gardeners nationwide whose marigolds came closest to being white. Vonk kept seeds from the lightest flowers in her garden each season, replanting for over two decades before achieving a pure white marigold that measured 2.5 inches in diameter. Her entry in the 1975 edition of the contest topped 8,200 other entrants and produced what was then described as the "costliest flower ever."

External links

• Biography of W. Atlee Burpee
• Biography of David Burpee
• Burpee Seeds - Corporate Site
• The Legacy of W. Atlee Burpee
• Burpee catalog covers through the years