I'm just sick about this. Burpee showed up yesterday at Heronswood, told the employees that they were out of a job, and locked the gates. They're moving the entire operation to their Pennsylvania headquarters, effective immediately. Every event and class scheduled for the rest of 2006 is cancelled as of yesterday.
Sick sick sick... I'm just sick. The people at Heronswood were completely blindsided by this move, including Dan Hinkley himself.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/272 ... ood31.html
Heronswood is closed...
Moderator: Chris_W
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doublemom2
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Heronswood is closed...
Andi
Discover Wildlife... Have Twins!!!
Discover Wildlife... Have Twins!!!
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Minnow
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Andi, I knew that this was going to happen as soon as I found out about Burpee buying Herronswood a few years ago.I am just glad that I had the chance to visit Herronswood in 2000 at it's peak! Hopefully this does not affect MR Hinkley's residence & his private Gardens! 
Elizabeth
No man needs a vacation as bad as the man who has just had one.
No man needs a vacation as bad as the man who has just had one.
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doublemom2
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I'm still walking around shell shocked. If they wanted to trial more plants from zones 5/6 for their east coast customers, why couldn't they just open up a trial ground in Pennsylvania at their headquarters for those customers, and leave Heronswood alone? The way the Burpee president spoke, it sounded very condescending toward west coast gardeners, like we're not important and don't matter.
It's amazing what a company will do for a few $$$, and not even take into account the people and atmosphere and magic that makes up Heronswood here in Washington. They will never ever be able to recreate something like Dan has done here. I personally think they are shooting themselves in the foot, big time, as 99% of the gardeners I know of over here will boycott Burpee forever now.
And Kellie - Don't know if you've been getting the emails from Jake, but he feels the same way. Everyone was completely blindsided by this. The way Burpee handled it was horrific and deplorable, and completely unprofessional. They aren't worthy of a single cent of mine for the rest of my life.
It's amazing what a company will do for a few $$$, and not even take into account the people and atmosphere and magic that makes up Heronswood here in Washington. They will never ever be able to recreate something like Dan has done here. I personally think they are shooting themselves in the foot, big time, as 99% of the gardeners I know of over here will boycott Burpee forever now.
And Kellie - Don't know if you've been getting the emails from Jake, but he feels the same way. Everyone was completely blindsided by this. The way Burpee handled it was horrific and deplorable, and completely unprofessional. They aren't worthy of a single cent of mine for the rest of my life.
Andi
Discover Wildlife... Have Twins!!!
Discover Wildlife... Have Twins!!!
No, Jake hasn't emailed me. I found out from you, Judy and Mike this morning.
We are not only losing something special, but I'm losing my "family".
Minnow, every one thought that initially, but as the years went by and Burpee kept talking about how committed they were to making it work, even as recently as a couple of weeks ago, you don't expect to be blindsided like this. Having been on the inside, it wasn't even hinted at.
We are not only losing something special, but I'm losing my "family".
Minnow, every one thought that initially, but as the years went by and Burpee kept talking about how committed they were to making it work, even as recently as a couple of weeks ago, you don't expect to be blindsided like this. Having been on the inside, it wasn't even hinted at.
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doublemom2
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PNWJudy
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not just Burpee, but BALL
http://www.saveseeds.org/biography/burpee_david.html
George Ball, the man who fired the last Burpee family member from their own business--what do you expect?
George Ball, the man who said the Heronswood catalogs "read like a terxtbook"--(is something wrong with that?) likely did not even read them, or was too busy with his moneycounting to appreciate the subtleties.
What a perfect reciepient for one of Dan's Viburnum harryanum shrubs.
Oh, but let's wait until the genus is renamed Viburnus.
What other "holdings" does George Ball have? He bought the Burpee name and now the Heronswood name. I want to know what other businesses/ products to avoid.
Ball potting soil.
Wave petunias--(darn, I really wanted some of those, too..)
Monsanto?
Super Elfin impatiens.
What else?
http://www.ballhort.com/
http://www.saveseeds.org/biography/ball_geo_jr.html
We've got some research do do.
It isn't just Burpee that should be boycotted here, folks.
Kitsap Sun story:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/local/art ... 45,00.html
George Ball, the man who fired the last Burpee family member from their own business--what do you expect?
George Ball, the man who said the Heronswood catalogs "read like a terxtbook"--(is something wrong with that?) likely did not even read them, or was too busy with his moneycounting to appreciate the subtleties.
What a perfect reciepient for one of Dan's Viburnum harryanum shrubs.
Oh, but let's wait until the genus is renamed Viburnus.
What other "holdings" does George Ball have? He bought the Burpee name and now the Heronswood name. I want to know what other businesses/ products to avoid.
Ball potting soil.
Wave petunias--(darn, I really wanted some of those, too..)
Monsanto?
Super Elfin impatiens.
What else?
http://www.ballhort.com/
http://www.saveseeds.org/biography/ball_geo_jr.html
We've got some research do do.
It isn't just Burpee that should be boycotted here, folks.
Kitsap Sun story:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/local/art ... 45,00.html
Judy and Frank
So many species, so little time......
So many species, so little time......
I'm very sad about the closure.
Over on gardenweb (Northwestern gardening forum), I'm helping to rally a grass roots effort to save the Garden Grounds and make it a teaching garden or just a nice tour garden for charity.
Maybe folks here can help too by emailing The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, I figured a grant from them could fund the garden for future generations:
Email addresses for Gates Foundation are:
info@gatesfoundation.org (Generel Information)
edinfo@gatesfoundation.org (Educational info)
Let's all take a stand and email the Gate's.
Here is my email to the Gate's, if you want to use some of it, feel free:
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to you as a plea for help, there is a need to save a historical Botanical Teaching Garden that soon may be lost. The Garden I speak of is Heronswood Nursery / Botanical Garden in Kingston, Washington. The parent company that purchased Heronswood a few years ago, Atlee Burpee Seed Company, has shut down the garden on May 30th, to much distress of Pacific Northwest Gardeners. Burpee is moving the operations to Pennsylvania and selling off the botanical garden in Kingston. Gardeners' from all around the world have visited the Heronswood Garden to see the amazing and rare plant collections that was assembled by Dan Hinckly, the original owner/founder of Heronswood. Dan Hinckly is the Indiana Jones of plant collecting, he has collected and propagated so many new and interesting plants from all over the world and shared them with everyone.
The loss is felt everywhere, Gardeners all over the world are reacting to this loss as if one of their best friends died of some terrible disease, it's a very shocking thing!
I am sending a plea on behalf of all of Pacific Northwest Gardeners and the world's gardeners' to see if the Gates foundation would acquire the Heronswood Garden for the sole purpose of saving one of our unique Pacific Northwest Treasures. Perhaps your foundation could turn Heronswood into a Teaching Garden - or perhaps they could gift it to the University Of Washington to maintain and for teaching... and to allow for public paid tours that benefit charities.
Any help is greatly appreciated! There is a grassroots effort to save this gem of Pacific Northwest.
Over on gardenweb (Northwestern gardening forum), I'm helping to rally a grass roots effort to save the Garden Grounds and make it a teaching garden or just a nice tour garden for charity.
Maybe folks here can help too by emailing The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, I figured a grant from them could fund the garden for future generations:
Email addresses for Gates Foundation are:
info@gatesfoundation.org (Generel Information)
edinfo@gatesfoundation.org (Educational info)
Let's all take a stand and email the Gate's.
Here is my email to the Gate's, if you want to use some of it, feel free:
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to you as a plea for help, there is a need to save a historical Botanical Teaching Garden that soon may be lost. The Garden I speak of is Heronswood Nursery / Botanical Garden in Kingston, Washington. The parent company that purchased Heronswood a few years ago, Atlee Burpee Seed Company, has shut down the garden on May 30th, to much distress of Pacific Northwest Gardeners. Burpee is moving the operations to Pennsylvania and selling off the botanical garden in Kingston. Gardeners' from all around the world have visited the Heronswood Garden to see the amazing and rare plant collections that was assembled by Dan Hinckly, the original owner/founder of Heronswood. Dan Hinckly is the Indiana Jones of plant collecting, he has collected and propagated so many new and interesting plants from all over the world and shared them with everyone.
The loss is felt everywhere, Gardeners all over the world are reacting to this loss as if one of their best friends died of some terrible disease, it's a very shocking thing!
I am sending a plea on behalf of all of Pacific Northwest Gardeners and the world's gardeners' to see if the Gates foundation would acquire the Heronswood Garden for the sole purpose of saving one of our unique Pacific Northwest Treasures. Perhaps your foundation could turn Heronswood into a Teaching Garden - or perhaps they could gift it to the University Of Washington to maintain and for teaching... and to allow for public paid tours that benefit charities.
Any help is greatly appreciated! There is a grassroots effort to save this gem of Pacific Northwest.
OMG, Andi! We were planning to go together! I never even got to go. I guess I could have made an effort earlier, but never got around to it. 
Will this affect Jake's England job? What was this Ball guy thinking?
Judy, what else should we be boycotting? I just don't want to register to the Kitsap Sun. Silly, I know. I found it laughable that the Ball site says they always "do the right thing." I don't know if I would trust them to release some cool plant found in my garden. Hmmm.
Kas
Will this affect Jake's England job? What was this Ball guy thinking?Judy, what else should we be boycotting? I just don't want to register to the Kitsap Sun. Silly, I know. I found it laughable that the Ball site says they always "do the right thing." I don't know if I would trust them to release some cool plant found in my garden. Hmmm.
Kas
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend; and inside a dog, it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
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Chris_W
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This is really sad. Hopefully the display gardens will be taken care of for the future.
Please don't get mad at me for asking, but why was Heronswood sold to Burpee in the first place? Were they bleeding cash and needed some backers to keep going?
It sounded like Burpee did want to make it profitable but if Heronswood was losing money to begin with and failed to turn a profit after 6 years then this can be the unfortunate reality of any business. Obviously selling it again wasn't going to be an option or they would have done that, so this makes me think that maybe some aspect of it, from a business standpoint, just really couldn't be fixed. I can't help but wonder if this can only be blamed on the Burpee company or if there were underlying problems from a business standpoint that were impossible to overcome.
Too bad it hadn't been sold to something like a University or a foundation 6 years ago instead of trying to sell it to a business like Burpee's.
Please don't get mad at me for asking, but why was Heronswood sold to Burpee in the first place? Were they bleeding cash and needed some backers to keep going?
It sounded like Burpee did want to make it profitable but if Heronswood was losing money to begin with and failed to turn a profit after 6 years then this can be the unfortunate reality of any business. Obviously selling it again wasn't going to be an option or they would have done that, so this makes me think that maybe some aspect of it, from a business standpoint, just really couldn't be fixed. I can't help but wonder if this can only be blamed on the Burpee company or if there were underlying problems from a business standpoint that were impossible to overcome.
Too bad it hadn't been sold to something like a University or a foundation 6 years ago instead of trying to sell it to a business like Burpee's.
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doublemom2
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- Location: WA State zone 8
I'm not sure what the behind-the-scenes business aspect was, but I DO know that the reasons and excuses that Burpee gave for shutting it down were completely ridiculous and without merit. They said the plants from Heronswood were not appropriate for east coast gardeners, their main client base, and that they needed to sell only plants that would work for and please those gardening on the east coast. Excuse me, but does that mean that all of us living over here don't matter? Their attitude was very condescending. And there have been multiple people on email lists who live east of the Rockies say that their Heronswood plants for the most part do really well in colder climates.
If that was the concern, why not have a trial grounds at their Pennsylvania property as well, to determine which of the plants would do well there and market those for the east coast gardeners. Any one who gardens should know what zone they're in and be able to read a catalog to see if a plant will be appropriate for them or not. It was a completely shallow and see-through excuse that Mr. Ball gave, completely without merit.
The way that they showed up on the scene without notice, told the employees they had 30 minutes to gather their things and leave the property, and posted security guards and locked the gates was deplorable. Very very very unprofessional and un-business like. Obviously, mr. Ball doesn't care one bit about the lifelong work that has been created there and what will potentially be lost. As usual, the big businesses only care about the $$$, not the people involved. Which is exactly why I quit working for a major corporation several years ago and realized that it was the best day of my life!!!!!
Andi
p.s. Sorry for the ranting and raving, my blood pressure is still up about the whole thing.
If that was the concern, why not have a trial grounds at their Pennsylvania property as well, to determine which of the plants would do well there and market those for the east coast gardeners. Any one who gardens should know what zone they're in and be able to read a catalog to see if a plant will be appropriate for them or not. It was a completely shallow and see-through excuse that Mr. Ball gave, completely without merit.
The way that they showed up on the scene without notice, told the employees they had 30 minutes to gather their things and leave the property, and posted security guards and locked the gates was deplorable. Very very very unprofessional and un-business like. Obviously, mr. Ball doesn't care one bit about the lifelong work that has been created there and what will potentially be lost. As usual, the big businesses only care about the $$$, not the people involved. Which is exactly why I quit working for a major corporation several years ago and realized that it was the best day of my life!!!!!
Andi
p.s. Sorry for the ranting and raving, my blood pressure is still up about the whole thing.
Andi
Discover Wildlife... Have Twins!!!
Discover Wildlife... Have Twins!!!
Part of the reason that Burpee felt Heronswood is losing money is they put in complete new computer systems three different times in the last three years, not to mention completely retagging all the plants in the nursery at least three times!Stupid, unneccesary expenditures.
Don't think Burpee has much common sense.
If it had just been left alone and allowed to operate the way it always had, the picture would have been much brighter.
Don't think Burpee has much common sense.
If it had just been left alone and allowed to operate the way it always had, the picture would have been much brighter.
On the positive side, folks...
We can celebrate the memory of Heronswood in our own gardens. Everytime I walk through my garden, I'm surrounded by Dan's collections and the love and care the the Heronistas put into those plants. I've got a great collection of their babies taking up residence in my garden, and they're making babies as we speak. I'm not alone. So their great plants will live on and thrive in the Pacific Northwest. We're all lucky to have experienced this place for as many years as we did. If Dan hadn't started this nursery, we may all be shopping at Walmart (bite my tongue).
Celebrate their memory. Enjoy your garden.
We can celebrate the memory of Heronswood in our own gardens. Everytime I walk through my garden, I'm surrounded by Dan's collections and the love and care the the Heronistas put into those plants. I've got a great collection of their babies taking up residence in my garden, and they're making babies as we speak. I'm not alone. So their great plants will live on and thrive in the Pacific Northwest. We're all lucky to have experienced this place for as many years as we did. If Dan hadn't started this nursery, we may all be shopping at Walmart (bite my tongue).
Celebrate their memory. Enjoy your garden.
I'm within a hop, skip, and a jump of Fordhook Farm; have never been there though. Have a stack of old Heronswood catalogs on my shelf, too.
I read the article in the link and the comment that the founders just wanted their lives back. I can empathize. And my sympathy goes out to Heronswood employees as well as to all of you in the northwest who visited and loved the nursery.
But like Minnow, I knew the second I read about the sale, after it happened, that the founders had just destroyed their own creation. Frankly, and please don't take this the wrong way, I'm surprised by everyone's shock and surprise. This outcome may as well have been carved in stone and set over the nursery's entrance gates as soon as the transfer of ownership took place.
Of all the organizations they could have sold out to. How could they have been so short-sighted? So willfully ignorant? What on earth were they thinking? Were they thinking?
I read the article in the link and the comment that the founders just wanted their lives back. I can empathize. And my sympathy goes out to Heronswood employees as well as to all of you in the northwest who visited and loved the nursery.
But like Minnow, I knew the second I read about the sale, after it happened, that the founders had just destroyed their own creation. Frankly, and please don't take this the wrong way, I'm surprised by everyone's shock and surprise. This outcome may as well have been carved in stone and set over the nursery's entrance gates as soon as the transfer of ownership took place.
Of all the organizations they could have sold out to. How could they have been so short-sighted? So willfully ignorant? What on earth were they thinking? Were they thinking?