Burp(ee)?

Here, is that site for anyone who might want to buy plants before they "negotiate" themselves out of existence.

http://www.woodlanders.net/

The site says that they are selling plants for pickup only.They are in SC so I'll try to get there before they sell out to the big guys.

Here is the latest article:
http://www.oregonlive.com/hg/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/homes_gardens/115082611548180.xml&coll=7

If the link comes up with a place to put in your zipcode, etc, just do it and you will go to the article.

Here is the latest local article, printed today in the Kitsap Sun. Since it's okay to email or copy this article, I think it's okay to post it here:



Carolyn J. Yaschur | Kitsap Sun Sally Stubberfield, who has worked at Heronswood for more than 11 years, will stay on staff to help facilitate the move and maintain the gardens.



Carolyn J. Yaschur | Kitsap Sun Connie Lammers of Poulsbo, who worked at Herronswood for a decade, was given this Acer Japanese Maple by the owner of Herronswood for a birthday, years ago.


Carolyn J. Yaschur | Kitsap Sun

Sally Stubberfield, who has worked at Heronswood for more than 11 years, will stay on staff to help facilitate the move and maintain the gardens.



Carolyn J. Yaschur | Kitsap Sun Connie Lammers of Poulsbo, worked at Herronswood for a decade.


Carolyn J. Yaschur | Kitsap Sun

Heronswood Nursery owners displayed a sign that it is closed.

PRINT THIS STORY | E-MAIL THIS STORY

How It's Going for the Heronistas

Six Heronswood workers have stayed on while 16 have accepted severance packages.
By Julie McCormick, jmccormick@kitsapsun.com
July 9, 2006

Kingston

A month ago, Sally Stubberfield was determined to be positive about the sudden loss of a job that was as much a lifestyle as a source of income.




The former field manager at Heronswood Nursery — shut down abruptly and without notice by its corporate owner W. Atlee Burpee & Co. the day after Memorial Day — stayed on to help the company move the thousands of rare plants in Heronswood’s shade houses and propagation center back to Burpee’s Pennsylvania headquarters.

She also stayed to support the five other Heronswood staff needed to make the move work.

And she was hopeful a public-minded buyer could be found for the 3.5 acres of exquisite gardens created over 19 years by founders Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones.

But it’s been harder than she anticipated, Stubberfield said, working with new bosses from the East.

So hard that the remaining Heronistas, as Hinkley called them and they call themselves, wanted to walk out in frustration a week ago. "Thank God we all crashed at different times," said Stubberfield. "It’s like trying to watch somebody die really slowly."

"I think they (those who stayed on to help) are much worse off than we are," Connie Lammers said about herself and the 16 other Heronistas who took the severance packages offered by Burpee and left Heronswood for the last time that dark day.

Most people who worked at Heronswood did so more out of love than money, and consider themselves more like a family than a group of colleagues, Stubberfield said.

It’s been wrenching to pack up the rare plants grown from seed gathered from around the globe by Hinkley, a world-class plantsman, then nurtured according to their variable, rare-plant needs.

The first refrigerated truckload arrived undamaged in Pennsylvania a few days ago.

Lammers, Heronswood’s former office manager and customer service specialist, said most employees have not yet found other work. Many are holding out for the right position.

She is working one day a week to manage a busy travel schedule for Hinkley, who’s in China right now for the filming of a public broadcasting "Nova" segment entitled "The First Flower."

Lammers is in no hurry to find another job. "I’m 57 and I’ve worked since I was 15 so I would like to find something that I really want to do and I had that at Heronswood," she said.

Heronistas get together weekly to offer each other support, Stubberfield has another job waiting for her, tending a large private garden in Kitsap when the move is completed in September. And she and others are thinking of starting up a specialty Heronista landscaping business.

Jones, who managed Heronswood operations, has gone back to architecture and said he’s got a few projects lined up.

The gardening blogosphere is loaded with bitter and critical chatter about Burpee’s decision to close down what it contends was a money-losing operation and transfer stock and potential to Pennsylvania.

But company president George Ball said he is not getting much negative feedback from customers on Heronswood’s mailing list.

The company intends to market the 15-acre property with its botanically unique 8,000 plantings as a package, Ball said, and has been flooded with inquiries.

"We’re going to take our time finding the right buyer, a buyer who will agree to preserve the garden," he said.

Ball said he abandoned the notion of selling for high-density residential development after learning county zoning prohibits it.

The property is zoned rural residential and that’s not likely to change under state growth management regulations, said Eric Baker, Kitsap’s planner in charge of updating the comprehensive land use plan.

Ball confirmed reports that Burpee paid Hinkley and Jones $4.5 million for Heronswood in 2000, and a few years later, the two declined an offer to buy it back at half the purchase price.

He said he does not yet have an estimate of the market value of the property.

Did you all get the e-mail from Burpee last week with the invitation to the Hersonswood Hydrangea lectures at Fordhook Farm by Dr Michael Dirr last weekend? Not a word about it on the Burpee website, but it is listed on the Heronswood web site for their 'new' location in PA. Says their 'knowledgeable' staff will be on hand. Doesn't sound like many of those knowledgeable staff are former Heronswood employees.

gram

Yeah - I got the invites. (Two - one right a few weeks/months ago and another about a
week ago.) Not planning to go. But it is close to me and Dr. Dirr would be a great person
to meet & hear.

Tam

The Big Dipper catalog is listing several Heronswood items. The hardy begonia caught my eye.

Resist the temptation. Don't buy anything from Burpee or any of their subsidiaries or partners until and unless they clean up their act regarding this fiasco. You can live without that begonia.
Guy S.

I don't think Big Dipper is associated in any way with them. They are a locally owned, family owned nursery. I have bought from them and I was very pleased. I'm thinking that lots of nurseries around here will be selling cultivars from heronswood, since they know we're all wanting things.
Yes, Starhillforest, I just loved that quote myself. Good thing we have decent zoning in that part of the peninsula.

I love how he says he's not getting much negative feedback from the people on the mailing list! Yeah. Right.

Interesting side note: I was in Seattle this weekend and visited a lovely garden furnishing shop. The owner of the shop had planted an outstanding shrub border along the parking lot and there were several cultivars of hydrangeas that I wanted - some of them from Heronswood. I spoke with the woman (and told her about Dave's Garden) and asked if I could have cuttings. She whipped out her clippers as fast as could be and said - show me what you want. We chatted about Heronswood and our mutual dismay at the closing, her anger at Dan Hinkley for selling in the first place, and then agreed to trade cuttings from heronswood cultivars. I'm goint to email her a list of the things I have, and she's invited me to come up and see what she has. There was a healthy amount of commiseration and sadness going on between us, but I ended up with a new gardening friend, and cuttings from some great hydrangeas.

Pix is right - Big Dipper is a small family owned nursery in the neighborhood. I enjoy their occasional e-newsletter.

They are nice folks. I imagine they are upset about this whole thing, too.

I thought I'd seen a lot of Heronswood stuff in other catalogs recently too.

Well.if we are not going to support Burpee then let's just not buy anything from anyone who may have anything to do with them..including buying things quickly before they go out of state.

Hmmm... isn't there value in keeping the Heronswood collected plants going? Buying them
from other nurseries or sharing cuttings. It means that Dan Hinkley's collection will live on.
(I'm not sure I'm as mad at Burpee as the rest of you - it seems like he made a really stupid
business decision and things got out of hand. He didn't know how to fix it and didn't handle
it well. But he did try to sell it back to Dan & Robert. But I will not be attending that Heronswood
East thingie for sure)

Tam

Absolutely! I am excited to see that people in this area are offering Heronswood cultivars, and naming them as such. You could always find the occasional plant that was offered initially through Heronswood, but now that it doesn't exist anymore, more local people are joining together to see that those plants remain available. I'll bet this is true around the country.
Re Mr. Ball trying to sell the nursery back to Dan and Robert, I believe there must be more to the story than that. Perhaps they had the right of first refusal. Also, it makes it sound like such a good deal that he offered it to them for half the original sale price. But, like anyone else, if they sold it for more than they bought it for, they realized capital gains, which then had to be put back into another property in order to avoid a large tax burden. They had bought a property in Indianola, a very nice area close to Port Townsend. It is doubtful that they had 2.5 million just laying around waiting to be spent on buying back the original property.

Too late to buy anything from the original Heronswood. They stopped shipping orders at the end of June.

Pixydish - I understand why Dan & Robert didn't buy it back. I just was pointing out that Mr Ball obviously
made a very bad business decision and couldn't figure out how to fix it. I just see the evidence of this
in his offer to sell it back at half price!

Whether stupidity, greed, laziness or other reasons... its just so sad that we've lost Heronswood! I am just
so happy I had a chance to visit a few years ago - an unplanned side trip while in the area.

Tam

You are so right, Tammy. I'm glad you had a chance to visit, too. It's an astounding garden.

Well, it looks like the East Coast people turned out for the Heronswood Open in PA.

Looks like the East Coast Heronswood Open was a success.

http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=16945983&BRD=1685&PAG=461&dept_id=45363&rfi=8

Kicking up loose grass clippings and hay, a steady stream of automobiles made its way through a labyrinth of woodland a short distance from bustling New Britain Road in Doylestown Township Friday morning.

Drivers were directed to an expansive makeshift parking lot set up on the grounds of the County Seat's historic Fordhook Farm, former home of gardening legend W. Atlee Burpee and the site of the inaugural Heronswood Open at Fordhook Farm.
Shortly after 10:30 a.m. Friday, a little more than a half-hour after opening, the Farm was saturated with people, many with rare and exotic plantings tucked beneath their arms, despite the unforgiving sun.
The Pacific Northwest's highly acclaimed Heronswood Nursery's first open house outside the State of Washington Friday and Saturday was an immediate draw, bringing well over 2,000 hardcore gardeners from five states to Fordhook Farm. Residents and non-residents alike took in the nursery's top-notch collection of hydrangeas, which were on display and for sale, along with more than 200 varieties of rare and unusual perennials, shrubs and trees. In all, Fordhook Farm boasted a collection of exquisite flora of varying shapes, sizes and colors worth approximately $1 million.
The decision to hold the Heronswood Open at Fordhook Farm culminated in more than five years of rigorous testing to assemble a well-adapted line of plants that will flourish throughout most regions of the Eastern United States. Heronswood was acquired in 2000 by W. Atlee Burpee & Co., and Fordhook Farm is the 60-acre homestead where Burpee originated and has continued to serve as the Bucks County company's main research and display gardens.
The two-day event featured a formal lecture each day by one of the world's leading experts on hydrangeas, Dr. Michael Dirr, professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia and author of the book "Hydrangeas for American Gardens." The seminars sold out well in advance.
"The Heronswood Open at Fordhook Farm represents an important milestone that will enable home gardeners to view many exotic and rare plants exclusive to Heronswood Nursery," George Ball, chairman, president and CEO of Burpee, said prior to the successful event. "For the first time, Heronswood will have a permanent garden outside Washington's Kitsap Peninsula, providing access to the many home gardeners who are Heronswood aficionados throughout the Northeast."
On Monday, less than 48 hours after the Heronswood Open wrapped up, Ball still seemed a bit stunned that so many people would venture out into the excessive heat to purchase a rare find.
"I'm absolutely thrilled by the turnout," Ball said from the comforts of his Warminster office. "The gardeners were very enthusiastic and we received very positive feedback."
For those unable to take in last week's Heronswood Open, Fordhook Farm will host similar open houses in future months, with a goal to host four or five yearly. The next open house is scheduled for late September/early October. Visit www.heronswood.com for information.
In addition to more than 30 species of hydrangeas, ranging from the precious Japanese Doubles to handsome evergreen climbing varieties and sporting catchy names such as "Cloud Nine" and "Chantilly Lace," the Open featured a large assortment of gathered-in-the-wild plants for which Heronswood is famous.
Heronswood plant collectors regularly visit such faraway places as Western China, Vietnam, Nepal, Tibet and Northern Japan in search of unknown varieties that can be introduced to home gardeners in the United States.
Art lovers were able to enjoy a selection of nature-oriented sculptures that complement the gardens by world-famous artist Steven Tobin, noted recently for his 9/11 memorial installation at Trinity Church in New York City. Also on display were related works by Daisuke Shintani, Densaburo Oku and Eric Finnerty.

It will be interesting to see what happens to this nursery.

Though the east coast version of Heronswood may never be like the west coast one, clearly easterners are interested. Maybe some local west coast person could start a new sort of Heronswood. to fill the obvious market void left by moving the old one. No, it wouldn't be the same, but it might be different but still good.

I still hope they fall on their face and lose tons of money as more people discover what they've done, just to discourage them from ruining any more of America's unique nurseries. And I certainly hope no one here is buying anything from them or promoting them.

Guy S.

Apparently there are plenty of people who are interested in the new Heronswood, so I don't think Burpee's going to be discouraged from any further attempted takeovers because of this (although if the cost of relocating Heronswood was big enough, that might discourage them at least from going after any more nurseries on the west coast). I think the better thing to hope for is that the rest of America's unique nurseries have seen what happened here and will think twice before selling out to the big guys and letting themselves be ruined.

Right now there may be customers, but critical publicity can work wonders over time. Once I saw that Ball had bought HW to liquidate it and sell the garden for condo development, after having done similar nasty things to another nursery recently (and to the original Burpee family business itself), I was through with them. If enough other people realize what's going on, and do the right thing instead of following their plant lust, I think we can send Ball back to the slime pit he crawled out of.

Hinckley sold on good faith -- a big mistake, in hindsight, but unintentionally so. Ball was the ruthless pirate here, and he is the one who should have his wallet flattened. I know a couple of other garden writers besides me who already have said they want to expose him at every opportunity.

Everybody rants about the big box stores, but Ball's insidious moves are worse and should not be ignored, condoned, or supported. If you want Hinckley's introductions, buy them from someone else who is propagating them, not from Burpee.

Guy S.

Right on!

Dan Hinkley not Hinckley. Is still collecting his specimens and still has the insight to build if anything his own garden on the 6 acres he is developing at this very moment. We will be overwhelmed with his newest creations. Dan has not lost his love to bringing the plant that needs to visit the PNW and thrive.

There are othere nurseries that offer unusual things...Asiatica..Roslyn..rareFindnursery...earthly pursuits..Arrowhead Alpines..Crownsville. There are things I ordered from Heronswood years ago that never made it in out heat and humidity so I can't believe they are going to survive with the same plants here on the east coast.

Star,
That's kind of harsh don't you think? First, if I understand correctly, Ball did not buy Heronswood to liquate it. He bought it and ran it as a nursery for 6 years. How is that buying and liquating? After he bought the nursery, both Dan and Robert where the ones that ran the operation for the first 4 years after the purchase and they couldn’t make it profitable. How long can a company run and not be profitable before you have to try a new business model? I think 6 years is more than patient. Think about it – when you work, do you expect to get paid? Why should ANY company be any different – everybody has to get paid. When you are not making a profit, you are not getting paid.

It might sound harsh, but read all the stuff above, including the links. Burpee wanted a cash cow, and they milked it for what they could get out of it before butchering it.

"Profitable" is a relative term. The place was doing fine for years as a horticultural enclave, modestly supporting the dedicated staff, and could have been maintained as such. But that wasn't good enough to satiate corporate greed.

As for those other nurseries Levi mentioned (and more), I hope they don't sell to Burpee. Woodlanders has been on the market for a while. Visit their web site and see what they say about the Burpee/Heronswood tragedy. Most of the best nursery businesses emphasize the first word (nursery) to the detriment of the second (business). They are not get-rich-quick operations -- they represent the horticultural passions of the owners. Once they are bought by corporations such as Burpee (which itself started as a fine family business) the second word takes over.

And Steve knows how to proofread -- I don't! Sorry about the misspelling, Dan!

Guy S.

True. (referring to post above Guy's last one) And if I am someone looking for a company to buy, I generally wouldn't be looking at those that aren't making money in the first place. Like small, specific niche nurseries. It's not as though Heronswood was a huge moneymaker in the first place. So one has to wonder what Ball saw in it besides the rare plants and the name. Certainly it didn't focus on Burpee's 'market' that he so often refers to.
Regardless of the motive behind the buy on Burpee's part, if people do not protest this type of corporate raiding by refusing to condone it and by making their refusal public, then there is no one at all to hold large companies accountable for their actions. It is a matter of ethics.

This message was edited Aug 1, 2006 8:32 AM

Here's what one of my old friends, a highly respected garden writer and horticulturist, wrote recently in a letter to George Ball:

Again I say : Right on!! I must add that it does my heart good to see people who are big in the horticulture world take Ball to task like that. In many ways, those people are the champions for the rest of us. I fear that our scathing emails fall on deaf ears, so to speak.

I am with you Guy.

Dan Hinkley seems to have moved on quite nicely from this unfortunate turn of events. Besides he and his partner starting a new garden in WA, he received the Amercian Horticultural Society's Liberty Hyde Bailey award for 2006. He's keeping busy writing of course, with articles in the current issues of both Amercian Gardener and Horticulture magazines. BTW, his article on the genus Lindera in AG is really good stuff. I had no idea how many species there were, especially of Asian origin. I thought benzoin was pretty much it.

Bucksmba I know this thread is long and you didn't have time to read it all but: 1 Dan and Bob when they owned it and ran it for a profit, quite successfully. 2. When Burpee bought it they had to pay for all the hard work, travel, marketing, unique style of presentation, large amount of genetic material, ..........etc. This caused the profitability to drop out of the nursery in the corporate bottom line Mr Ball is describing. 3.Dan and Bob, by Mr Burp, were directed to alter almost all of the successful methods that made the nursery unique. Marketing, plant collection, choice of selected items to sell, number of employees, catalog lay out, and most importantly the only thing that Dan and Bob had responsibility for was the quality of product arriving at their customers door. Which is the only thing that remained at the high quality of Herronswood. It shall be interesting just what the product you recieve now will look like after the removal of Dan and Bob. Just a thought. I agree anyone who buys a business should expect a profit from their purchase. I too am a capitalist. But when you buy a successful business you should continue to utilize the components that made that business successful. Mr Burp did not, in my opinion, do this. I don't know how well this will turn out but this is Dan and myself a few hundered years ago as "The Nature Boys" who went around Michigan to study plants and trees. Dan is picking his nose and I am the little guy in stripes on the left.

This message was edited Aug 1, 2006 12:36 PM

Levilyla... you state, we still have some good nurseries left, like Roslyn. You've not heard, they're closing? Yikes... my two favorite nurseries over the years, both closing this summer! I'm going to send Bob at Arrowhead, and Barry at Asiatica, nice cards just to see how they are feeling.
Don

No I did NOT know that..I am so sorry to hear it. That's a great picture of Dan Hinckley...bet he would be happy you posted it.

His mom gave me that photo about a month ago. He will hate me. LOL Pretty neat that 2 women got all of we guys together for a couple of summers to visit trees in and around Michigan and teach us about plants and propagation. Dan and I are the only ones gardening the others found other things to do.

Hey, Nature Boy -- I think you just got yerself a new nickname! Maybe Dan would consider that adequate punishment for posting that nosepick shot!

Guy S.