· 2000 – Burpee purchases Heronswood for over $4.5MM. Although struggling financially, Heronswood possesses a prestigious name, loyal customer base and excellent plant collection. Most of the sales are from the mail order catalogue, the rest from appointment-only and special event sales on the premises.

· 2000 – Burpee buys a neighboring property, doubling the nursery’s size, and adds nearly $1MM to its investments in Heronswood.

· 2000 – Burpee signs full-time employment contracts with the founders.

· 2000 – Burpee keeps management in place, consistent with the vision of the founders.

· 2003 – After 3 years operating the nursery independently, in “business as usual” mode, with losses every year, Burpee offers to sell Heronswood back to the founders for $2.8MM, about ½ the amount we paid to them in 2000. In addition, the new land is included in the price. They decline the offer.

· 2003 – Having not sold it back, Burpee announces several changes in the business, such as using color photography in a 2004 catalogue supplement and improvements in inventory control. Advertising and promotions begin for the new season, which, for the next two years, will include both the existing 200+ page non-illustrated catalogue and the fully illustrated supplement.

· 2004-2006 – After 2 years of making investments in the many improvements, the business continues to experience operational difficulties. After much deliberation, we discontinue the 200+ page catalogue for 2006. Essays and articles move to the website.

· April, 2006 – We decide to move the unprofitable Heronswood Nursery operations to larger space closer to a national market on the eastern seaboard. Five years of losses prove unsustainable in rural western Washington. Also, we decide to relocate research to adapt plants beyond a wet and warm zone 8 test garden. Three locations are chosen—two in central and eastern Pennsylvania and one in southern Delaware. Nevertheless, this is a painful decision due to the impact on the Heronswood employees. We create a generous severance package for all employees, even those with very short lengths of service. We complete our contractual obligations in full after 5 years with the founders. Due to security concerns based on past experiences, the move is planned in confidence and carried out quickly, both to protect nursery assets and to maintain the dignity of the employees. Out of 26 employees, 9 accept our offer to continue tending the garden and operating the nursery through the summer as well as packing and shipping the “plants-in-pots” inventory. We contact all customers with pending orders that cannot be fulfilled and give them refunds. We compensate all individuals and groups that reserved tours or classes at the nursery.

· June – October, 2006 – George Ball receives hundreds of emails and letters. Most are sincere expressions of disappointment and concern. Some are negative, based on incorrect information printed in the media.

· June – November, 2006 – Ten climate-controlled tractor trailers are filled with operating supplies, including salable inventory and potted production stock, and transported to Pennsylvania and Delaware. New hardiness zones for plant research and production are 5, 6 and 7. On the other hand, the display gardens in Washington are preserved and carefully maintained.

· July 14 & 15, 2006 – First Hydrangea Open is held at Fordhook Farm, Doylestown, PA. Over 2,000 garden-lovers attend. Dr. Michael Dirr gives two days of sold-out lectures and holds an auction of rare cultivars.

· August, 2006 – Heronswood Garden is put up for sale as a private botanical garden, with the specific condition of sale that the famous display gardens are to be preserved. Six staff members are retained until the end of 2006 to ship orders and work in the display garden.

· September 8 & 9, 2006 – Second Heronswood Rare Plant Sale and Open is held at Fordhook. Over 700 attend. Perennial expert Dale Hendricks from North Creek Nursery is featured speaker. George Ball gives a talk about plant breeding.

· October, 2006 – Monumental sculptures that suggest the power of plant growth are installed at Fordhook Farm by the renowned artist, Steve Tobin. They reinforce the development of the farm as an interesting destination for Heronswood customers.

· October, 2006 – Private Wholesale Open Days are held in Washington, by invitation only, to sell nursery stock that couldn’t be moved: tender zone 8-11, large potted specimens, seedlings, etc. Over 100 local nursery representatives attend and all plants are sold to commercial gardens within a 75 mile radius of Kingston, Washington. The display gardens continue to be lovingly maintained.

· October, 2006 – First formal meeting at Fordhook with representatives of the Pacific Northwest Horticulture Conservancy, a non-profit (501c 3) that is inspired by friends of the Heronswood Garden and established to buy and reopen it as a public facility. As reflected in George Ball’s op/ed in the August 4, 2006 Seattle Post Intelligencer, this would be the ideal solution for the gardens, since Heronswood Nursery is now established on 60 acres outside Philadelphia, where Burpee has conducted research for 117 years.

· December, 2006 – Heronswood Garden remains for sale as a private botanical garden in Washington, including the oriental style garden complex around the main house and the innovative 3-1/2 acre “rainforest” garden in the middle of a 15 acre site consisting of 6 parcels with four residences.

· December, 2006 – Over 2,000 of the 7-8,000 taxa collected at the original Heronswood garden have been duplicated, by both seeds and cuttings, at Heronswood’s new location at Fordhook Farm, including hundreds of newly gathered and experimental cultivars. These plants are now under evaluation for zones 5,6 & 7. Production plants for nationwide mail order and internet sales in winter and spring 2007 are growing beautifully in our Delaware and Pennsylvania nurseries.

· March, 2007 – Heronswood Nursery will exhibit and sell lush, new hellebores and other rare cultivars at the Philadelphia Flower Show, March 4-11 and the New England Flower Show, March 17-25. Come see us!

· April, 2007 – Our first 2007 Open Day will debut at Fordhook Farms in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on April 20 and 21st, featuring thousands of our new clonal hellebores, as well as hundreds of other rare and unusual plants. Speakers, as well as future 2007 Open Day dates and details, will be announced on the main page of our Heronswood website.

Thank You For Your Patience!