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The well known W. Atlee Burpee began to receive complaints about the fussy eating habits of the Chester County White Hog that was developed for Burpee in Chester County. It was then Burpee realized that shipping feed and seed was a lot easier than shipping animals; so by 1880, the W. Atlee Burpee Company was supplying the Northeast and the Plains states with seed and livestock. Later, in 1888, Burpee bought a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, called Fordhook, which would become the world-famous plant development facility that we order from today. Within 25 years Burpee had developed the largest, most progressive seed company in America. It was in 1915, when his company began sending out a million catalogs out a year, that W. Atlee Burpee died.
Once Burpee died, his 22 year old son David Burpee became head of the firm. David began focusing on hybrids and knew that crossing two strains of the same or different species could create something new, which brought about The Big Boy Tomato, the Early Hybrid Crenshaw Melon, and the Red and Gold Marigold, just to name a few. What’s even more interesting is that David Burpee began breeding experiments that used a small amount of natural substance from the crocus to shock chromosomes of flowers, which created new forms of the flower. The crocus also helped to transform the common wild black-eyed Susan into a magnificent garden flower called the Gloriosa Daisy, as well as, the Ruffled Jumbo Scarlet Zinnia that blooms up to seven inches across!
David Burpee also developed the white variety Snowbird marigolds, as well as, the Silver Medal Hybrid Multiflora Petunia (1949), Yellow Climax Hybrid Marigold (1958), Double Supreme Hybrid Snapdragon (1960), Firecracker Zenith Hybrid Zinnia (1963), Topper Hybrid Snapdragon (1964), Yellow Nugget Hybrid Marigold (1966), First Lady Hybrid Marigold (1968), Wedding Bells Hybrid Snapdragon (1973), Red Nugget Hybrid Marigold (1976) and so many more. It has been said that Burpee was the pioneer who made the zinnia, marigold, and nasturtium so popular today.
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