Photo credit Burpee Gardening
By Kharisma McIlwaine
On Thursday, July 11th, Burpee’s Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, PA welcomed a group of media professionals to preview the beautiful farms they maintain year-round ahead of the official Burpee opening. The sun was front and center as attendees freely explored the beautiful gardens, enjoyed food from Farmstead Foods and made bouquets courtesy of The Bucks County Flower Collective. The experience was so wonderful… it inspired a return trip to the grounds.
On Saturday, July 27th, Burpee’s Fordhook Farm welcomed the public to the official annual Burpee Open. The free, all-day event filled with self-guided tours, local music, food trucks, and breathtaking beauty, welcomed horticulture lovers for a behind the scenes look at the magical Burpee gardens. Burpee Chairman George Ball spoke to the SUN about The Burpee Open, the history behind Fordhook Farm and what visitors will experience on the grounds.
Burpee is recognized as one of the most respected seed, plant and gardening brands in the country.
“We have the greatest trust because our seeds are always the greatest quality. We have the healthiest seeds and the healthiest plants and a healthy plant is going to be a more productive plant with the number of fruits and flowers. Plant health is very important. We’re in plant pathology and plant physiology from the ground up.” Ball stated.
The historic Fordhook Farm property was purchased by W. Atlee Burpee in 1888. Growing up immersed in the world of horticulture, Ball wanted to continue his passion at Burpee where he’s been sharing his expertise since 1991.
“The family sold the company to General Foods in 1971. I purchased it from a group of investment bankers. I grew up in the nursery business. I grew up in Illinois in the far suburbs of Chicago. My grandfather started a nursery and he suddenly became very successful because he was doing plant breeding; so, it was in my blood you might say. I started when I was about 10 or 11 years old, working in the greenhouse during the summers. Then when I was 15, I traveled to Central America, Costa Rica specifically and Mexico and I apprenticed to one of the greatest plant breeders in the flower breeding industry Claude Hope. I grew up as a flower breeder and seed producer.” he said. “With Burpee, I had a chance to focus on the consumer. I’d always been focusing on the commercial growers — farmers and things like that. Now I had a chance to go to the consumer level and I always wanted a chance to do that in my career.”
Known for providing high quality seeds and plants, Burpee has a history of groundbreaking plant breeding and cultivation. Burpee is responsible for creating the original iceberg lettuce, the biggest beefsteak tomato ever bred and the first white marigold.
“We’re 148 years old now. We’re going to celebrate our 150th anniversary in two years. Fordhook Farm is the center for our testbeds and test gardens for the things that come out of the research area. We do a little bit of plant breeding there also and we do seed production there. The functions of horticulture… breeding, seed production, seed cleaning all those things are usually found in home farms. The Fordhook Farm is one of the last existing seed farm places in the country.” Ball said.
“Mr. Burpee had an ‘aha’ moment. He asked a Jewish immigrant from the Ukraine if he could dwarf and close the gaps of the internodes of the stems. So instead of stems being 15 ft high, it comes down to maybe 8 or 9ft. This was a revolution because it saved people’s gardens because it was now safe to grow a lot of beans and peas. He realized I have to breed here in America so that the genes are already adapted to the American environment. That was the big breakthrough and the reason why Burpee is a household name. Once we helped people pay off their mortgages with better vegetable varieties we became a household name.”
The Burpee name continues to be a household name with thousands of people looking forward to The Burpee Open, which only happens once each year — a new protocol and effort implemented to keep people safe post the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Before Covid, we were doing at least two and sometimes three opens a day. The only time you do an open house is when you can stop working and receive the public for a day… although sometimes we did a weekend with two-day events. Covid came and for 4 years we didn’t have a single visitor to this farm. When we came back to life, we didn’t know how to do the openings as well” Ball explained. “So, I started last year as the first one in four years. We timed our sowings so we could do one open in the middle of the summer and it’s been very successful.”
The Burpee Open taking place in the middle of the summer allows guests optimal access to the gardens and their harvests.
“They’ll see about 10 gardens large and small. There are gardens for full shade, gardens for semi shade, gardens for full sun and gardens for semi sun. Those are all different. They’ll see gardens focused on research, they’ll see gardens focused on production, they’ll see gardens that are focused on the history of the family, gardens focused on the history of horticulture in general and a whole series of aesthetic gardens that I put in about 3 or 4 years ago. I have a tree garden on a hill. Then there’s a pasture on the central area. Then we have this gigantic three-story seed house. It’s in 3 elevations” he explained.
Thousands of people attended The Burpee Open last year, and this year with 50 of the 175 expert employees volunteering this year to be onsite to aid guests in any questions they may have about the gardens. For lovers of horticulture, descriptions of Burpee’s gardens pale in comparison. The beauty of The Burpee Open is something that should be experienced firsthand.
“By the time you leave, you might not have seen the whole place deeply, but you’ll want to come back because it’s fascinating. All I can say is the flowers… beauty for the soul and then vegetables food for the body. People will see how that plays out by the people who sell them seeds and sell them plants for the whole year round. This is where you get to see the fruit of your labor. It’s kind of spiritual,” Ball said.
For more information about what you can look forward to for The Burpee Open next year and to purchase seeds, plants and all of your gardening needs visit www.burpee.com.
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