WARMINSTER, Pa. (WPVI) — For decades of backyard growers, Burpee has been a go-to name when it comes to vegetable, flower and herb seeds.
The Pennsylvania-based company is marking 150 years in business, still operating out of its longtime home in Bucks County.
Burpee owner George Ball attributes the brand’s widespread recognition to its wide-ranging catalog.
“We aren’t in any niche. We aren’t in any fashionable part. We’re everything. You can find niche products here. You can find fashionable products here. You can find everything here at Burpee, and that’s one of the big reasons that we’re such a well-known seed company,” Ball said.
The company’s story begins in 1876, when founder W. Atlee Burpee visited the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park at the age of 18.
“And, so he became really impressed with how good it was to get seeds out into America, because a lot of the seeds were coming from Europe at the high latitudes,” Ball said.
Ball noted that Burpee soon recognized a gap in the market for seeds tailored to American growing conditions.
“And so he found that farmers were struggling with the European seeds. So he developed the first real catalog of American seeds, of American adapted seeds. And that was how we became a household name,” Ball said.
As interest in the seeds expanded, Burpee set up Fordhook Farm in Doylestown after the founder began making trips to Europe to gather seeds that could thrive in North American climates.
The farm is believed to have been the first experimental test field station in the country.
Today, the company ships seeds nationwide.
“We sell billions of seeds. It depends on, you know, a seed is as different as the plant it’s from. So you have tiny seeds, you have big seeds, and we all do them,” Ball said.
The company is also in the process of restoring its historic seed house.
Jason, who has been involved in the restoration work, said the project kicked off last year and has moved upward through the building, level by level.
“Started last year, basically in the basement, and then got everything up and level and then worked on the first floor, second floor, third floor. And now we’re doing the finishing touches up on the bell tower,” Jason said.
Jason said maintaining the building’s original character has been central to the effort.
“I tried really hard not to change a lot,” Jason said.
He added that the structure’s place in the company’s history makes the work meaningful.
“The restoration is important to the company itself, because this is where basically it started,” Jason said.
As Burpee marks its 150th anniversary, company leaders say they continue to take pride in their ties to the Doylestown community and the company’s longstanding Pennsylvania heritage.