Mindy, since you singled me out by name, let me attempt to address your comments.

1. In very black and white terms, yes, Dan (and Robert) as the original owners of Heronswood can be considered as responsible parties in the current state of affairs. However, to lay the blame solely at their feet is a bit presumptive and certainly very simplistic. While I am not a close personal friend of Dan's and don't presume to know exactly what was on his mind at the time, it was explained to me by him (among others, at a gathering I attended when the sale occurred) his rationale behind it. The nursery had grown dramatically over the years, primarily by word of mouth, and the mail order aspect of the business was becoming so large and overwhelmingly complicated and time-consuming, a buyer was entertained who could smoothly and more efficiently handle that side of the business, leaving Dan free to continue to hunt and search out great plants, test and propagate them for production and keep up with his extremely demanding lecture schedule.

And somehow Burpee's was selected (I even heard rumors that Martha was involved in this decision, as she was on the board or a major stockholder, etc of Burpee's - don't know if any of this is true). It would be hard to imagine that the sales contract didn't outline things to Dan's specification or satisfaction at that time - certainly the retention of the name was paramount as was the more vocal assurances by Burpee's/George Ball that the operations of the nursery would remain unchanged, at least for the time being.

And so it was for a while. And then gradually things changed - selection was reduced, the catalog got shorter and shorter, eventually winding up as the glossy, half-hearted throw away that was 2006's effort. Eric's observation of Burpee's Chapter 11 filing so soon after the acquisition should have been the handwriting on the wall - they couldn't manage their own financial house; how well could they do so with a remote operation that was to be run separate and distinct from the rest? And now this, the closure of the Kingston nursery. No one that has any familiarity with the original nursery, both by mail order and in person, can conceivably believe that the "relocation" to PA will result in anything resembling the original operation, gardens included.

2. And yes, Heronswood - as we knew it - is gone. While the gardens may be (and hopefully will be) preserved under some sort of trust or conservancy, they will most likely go to the highest bidder, profit-driven corporate entity that Burpee's is. And without the input and attention of Dan and the Heronistas, they may be preserved but they won't be the same. No more Garden Opens, very likely no more Dan-conducted seminars, classes and lectures. The best we can hope for is for the gardens to preserved by a group or institution that cares about them and the quality and history they display. But they won't be the same. Not ever. Great gardens reflect the personality of their creators/owners - they are not static and as ownership changes, so changes the garden.

gardengal48,Thanks for all the info, but you have continued to insist on missing my points.
So I'm sure after I write the following, you will likely insist on continuing your opinion.Most people who spend time declaring what WILL BE, because they think that they actually can KNOW what will be,are not likely to change their attitude.

1) DAN made the decision TO sell to burpees and HOW to sell to burpees. HE is not stupid; he could and can see what burpee's is- as well as anyone. He had and has lawyers who could assure that his creation would not be destroyed. He poured his heart and soul into making an extraordinary place. And HE made a decision that has resulted in this current situation.

2) YOU, or anyone else, who PRESUMES to know definitively what will or will not happen to ANYTHING in the future-and then DECLARES that presumption to be truth- is not worth listening to. In the future, I think you would find many more people open to your thoughts if you practiced the art of SPECULATION, not DECLARATION.

Here's hoping for a positive future for the extraordinary Heronswood gardens in Kingston, and their extraordinary creator, Dan Hinkley.
Best, mindy

Bad day at the OFFICE?

Apparently :-))

I thought, and now it seems I thought correctly, that Dan Hinkley sold Heronswood in order to pursue his passions: discovering new plants and trying them in the landscape. I worked in the retail horticulture business for 3 years, and I knew quite a few retail and wholesale suppliers. Those who were essentially sole proprietors (or owners with fairly small staffs) eventually fell victim to their own success. They spent less time doing what they loved doing, and more time handling paperwork, dealing with logistics, and all the other non-horticultural parts of their businesses. Some hung on for a while, but in the end, most of the hard-core plant lovers sold or closed their businesses. They wanted their lives and their loves back.

In that light, I can understand WHY Dan Hinkley sold Heronswood, and sold it under the terms he did. The only real issue I have with his sale of the business is that he sold it to Burpee. I didn't think then, and I think it has been more than proven, that Burpee wasn't a good fit with Heronswood.

As for George Ball's assertion that Heronswood has never turned a profit, that might be true. I'm guessing that Heronswood paid the mortgage and provided living and travel expenses (for more botanizing) for Dan and his partner. In corporate terms, if there isn't any money left after all the expenses (including salary for the owner), then it isn't turning a profit. That said, Ball must have had access to the books before purchasing Heronswood. He had to KNOW what the cash flow looked like. Why Ball would expect Heronswood to suddenly become a corporate profit model is beyond me.

Ball clearly also failed to understand Heronswood's client base. Instead, he opted to disregard that base and try to market to the traditional Burpee clientele. Not to disparage Burpee's customers, but Heronswood and Burpee customers don't overlap much. They are VERY different animals. Burpee is a "comfortable" brand for casual, traditional vegetable and beginning gardeners (without saying a thing about Burpee quality or lack thereof). The Burpee catalog is designed to give the impression that gardening is fairly easy and kind of fun. The Burpee customer wants "some nice color" in the window boxes, and some tomatoes, zucchini and corn in a vegetable plot. The Burpee customer wants to be reasonably assured of success.

The Heronswood customer is often a little bonkers. This customer understands that despite his or her best efforts, some things just aren't going to survive. The Heronswood customer relishes the challenge of getting something new, different, and probably a little more subtle than petunias. What's more, the core Heronswood customer is willing to pay for the privilege of planting and risk losing the latest treasures from Dan's expeditions.

Ball is reputed to have complained that the old Heronswood catalogs "read like a textbook". I've never read a textbook anything LIKE the Heronswood catalogs. Never ONCE have I snorted tea out my nose reading my Botany textbook, or any of my chemistry, mathematics, or biology textbooks. Most of my Heronswood catalogs, however, contain snorted tea-stains (ewww) where I read one of Dan's more humorous comments. The closest "real" textbook to Heronswood catalogs I can think of is Michael Dirr's "Manual of Woody Plants" or one or more of Allen Armitage's works. They occasionally let loose with a particularly pithy (and humorous) comment. None of those works come close to Heronswood catalogs on the humor scale.

I find Ball's dismissal of the old Heronswood catalogs as "reads like a textbook" really rather insulting. SOME of us do read, and read a great deal. SOME of us (okay, I do), consult textbooks fairly regularly, and didn't particularly mind reading them as a student. Ball's implication is that we, as fans of the old catalogs, are ivory-tower elitist eggheads. I ain't no elitist and I ain't no egghead, even if I AM eddykayted.

Heronswood was very much a regionally focused nursery, although Ball misstated the case when he implied that Heronswood catered almost exclusively to Washington State residents. There are a great many avid gardeners in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. There are avid gardeners in other Heronswood-favorable (well, with a little extra TLC) climates like Northern Nevada.

Furthermore, there's absolutely nothing wrong with a regionally-oriented plant nursery. Bluebird Nursery thrives in Nebraska (admittedly wholesale only), Plant Delights does well in North Carolina, Yucca Do does well in Texas, High Country Gardens does well in the high desert/Great Basin states. There are doubtless very successful regional nurseries in the Northeast--I just don't know about them. What's wrong with Ball's perception of Heronswood is that he incomprehensibly assumed that Heronswood could be a large-scale national nursery supplier.

NONE of this will bring Heronswood back, but I had to get it all out of my head before I do some major re-potting this evening.

Lisa

1) I wish there were some way to combine the Heronswood threads so we could get all th pertinant info at once...

2) It was confirmed to me, today, that the gardens are going to be dismantled and the specimen plants sent to PA. This makes sense because the specimen plants are also the parents for propagation. It also makes it unlikely that we will be able to save the gardens. This reinforces the point that we are not talking only about the financial part of the nursery and its mailing list etc, but the destruction of a very important and lovely mature garden. Plantlovers everywhere should be sad about that regardless of the other financial arrangements/motivations involved.

The value to Burpee Ball in buying Heronswood was in the mystique, the brand, the intangibles. They also got Hinkley in the deal as the full-time plant guru, spreading the word. That is what he does best, and he did it well. He has become world renowned, as has the Heronswood brand. In shutting down the nursery Burpee is also shutting down its relationship with Hinkley, which may have been much more valuable than the nursery.

Hinkley's plant interests are too exotic to benefit Burpee's core business. I haven't looked at their recent offerings (I have a 19th century catalog), but assume they are 100% pedestrian middle American. That is not Hinkley. So, they finally realized it was not a good fit, and was probably a stupid decision in the first place. They didn't know what to do with it.

It was no doubt a tough decision for Hinkley and Jones to sell, but it gave them a chance to do other things with their lives than worry about payrolls and the other things that grind away at small labor intensive businesses. I guess they could have run Heronswood until they became old, gray, and died. And then what?

Based on what Ball has said and done recently I think he just wanted (some of) the plants. That's how it's working out, anyway--whatever he thought he was going to do earlier ("double the size of the gardens" etc.).

"I think he just wanted (some of) the plants". I can't agree with that at all. Just go look at the Burpee website. He's more likely to have a private goon squad steal someone's giant pumpkin. There's the zinnia's, the corn, the pumpkins, and oh wait, a link to Heronswood. It's like one of those quizzes that asks "which one doesn't belong? Rabbit, squirrel, guinea pig, octopus.

From a money standpoint, I'm sure Hinkley and Jones were paid handsomely for the business. Burpee could afford to do that. Who else could they have sold to? Any takers? It was a deal with the devil, but Hinkley and Jones may have gotten paid royally.

I also wonder if Burpee thought about selling Heronswood and found no reaonable offers. If a reasonable offer could be made perhaps they'd sell the property and business now. Who's capable of putting that together and running the business?

What is he said to be doing right now? He's digging plants from the garden (or will perhaps later, at a better time?) and packing plants from the nursery and shipping them back to PA.

The plants are not unique, just unusual, eclectic, hard to find, and beautiful. Little real value in marketing them to the middle-American gardener. Zinnias, carnations, corn, tomatoes, pumpkins. That's Burpee's niche. Most of the Heronswood plants can only be grown in specialized conditions and will fail in many parts of the country. Burpee sells plants that will do well everywhere. Common, dull, easy to find, easy to grow. It's all there at their website.

One theory (which I think someone already mentioned) is that Burpee wanted to "upgrade" themselves to Wayside Gardens level and needed a quick infusion of more prestigious plants. Acquiring Heronswood was one was to achieve this. I've heard that Burpee definitely plans to remove the specimen plants from the garden. This makes sense because some of these plants are the propagation plants for the nursery. On the other hand, removing the specimens will ruin the gardens. I think we should be able to draw a line between business activities and the preservation or destruction of a unique, mature, and much photographed garen.

Much of the bones of the garden, established woody shrubs and trees are too big to move and Burpee doesn't even sell that stuff. There are a number of plants I saw there that I do not have and lusted after when I saw them, but they are too odd for the general public and not even hardy below zone 8. Rarities that are typically zone 9, but they've got one that appears zone 8 hardy.

I bought an Arisaema wilsonii there. Aroids are super cool. They do multiply. I once heard it said "once a rare plant can be propogated it's not a rare plant anymore". Many times a plant that is impossible to get one year, turns up in the trade a few years later and is easy to aquire.

Hurricanes wreak havoc on major established and loved gardens, yet they eventually bounce back to glory with care. My point is that this garden is also salvageable.

Who will purchase it and maintain it though? That's yet to be seen. It has been an immaculately cared for garden.

Yes it is sad for all of us who collect to loose this resource. Then there is pride of place, we do get off on having these amazing one of a kind plant venues in our "Back Yard" regionally speaking. But I saw something once in an atricle on Joycreek, (one of my favoites), where the owners were discussing the up keep, and why they began doing what they do. It seemed, from my interpretation of the conversation, that like all of us they got into it because they like plants and gardening. then they started a mail order BZ. It grew from there, but they said that they decided to go onsite retail becase people were coming any way. One lady "Planned her vacation to drive her motor home and camp in the parking log for a FEW days. Now they were not complaining, they are bussinessmen, who get to work in a field they truly love. How ever, they do live there too, at least at first, or some of the time, and I can see how after years of this amazing sucess, you might get to thinking about the days when your home was your castle, and the place was run by you and your sweetie. As I said, thay are not complaining, this was only my take on it. But after working hard for a number of years, do you have the right to go out and shift into something that you'd like to do,either just as an employee, or consultant, and maybe have more time off? or less hours in the day? at what point would you Owe The Public to the degree that you are not free to pursue a new path if you get tired of the one your on. As the other poster said, these guys do have leagal advisors, and lastly sometimes when we are tired we do stuff we might not have done other wise. By the way, lots of creative folks get out of something, and befor long they revive like firebirds, or mushrooms and reinvent them selves into something every one loves.(again and fiercly)

Yes, it's about George, the current owner of Heronswood and what he is doing with it now, and not about Dan and Bob. Dan and Bob sold the business and left the property to make a new garden years ago. At the time I saw something from Dan about being burned out on the business. So I don't know that he (they) will be in a big rush to start another nursery, even after the non-compete clause runs out. I haven't been following Dan's public comments since the brief quote of him expressing surprise at the closure and relocation in the Seattle Times cover story on it. I did speak briefly with Bob at the Parker Sanderson memorial service at Cistus nursery, but we didn't talk about Heronswood--and neither of us new what was coming, of course.

I was a big fan of Smith & Hawken back in the day. They have discontinued sale of most of the great garden tools that they founded the business on.

They are now owned buy Scott's, a maker of pesticides and other garden wonders. Smith & Hawken is pretty much an outdoor furniture store.

Below is a link to an interested article buy its founder.

Here is a link that might be useful: On Smith & Hawken

What you report here and what the page you linked to describes exists because that's where the money is. To change the marketers, you have to first change the market. We've a long way to go--just look at orientations and level of awareness demonstrated daily on this site.

I think a gaping opportunity just opened for the next horticultural/marketing geniuses. If there's no money to be made pursuing the dream then nobody will. Clearly there is. Doing it as well as Hinkley & Jones is another matter. Personally, I always thought their plants were over-priced. People seem to have been willing to pay for the Heronswood cache (hype).

I was talking with Mike Lee of Colvos Creek recently about the huge number of listings in his latest catalog. I think he said there were 2,100 different plants listed. Heronswood never offered anything near that many.

Far Reaches is another aspiring grower specializing in many of the Asiatic aorids as well as hellebores that Heronswood featured so prominently. ForestFarm is another amazing grower. Hinkley brought Heronswood stardom, but there are other plant geniuses out there. Be sure to buy from them and keep them in business.

For whatever reasons, it was thought Heronswood had what they wanted and it was the only place they could get it. (Some offerings were North American exclusives collected by Dan, many others were not). Even the stampedes at their rare garden opens seemed like they were not necessary, as they were open by appointment much of the rest of the time. They WERE much more heavy on east Asian plants and other wet climate stuff that would appeal to easterners (like George Ball) than outfits like Colvos and Cistus, which tend feature Californian, Mexican, Australian and other dry climate stuff more appropriate to our region. Heronswood had these as well, and Colvos and Cistus do offer some wet climate plants--but Heronswood was probably much better at "Something for Everyone"--as well as having Dan out there beating the drum.

It was never about the plants. Burpee can pay for their own collecting expeditions all over the world. It's all about the value of the Heronswood brand. That's where business is at today. I think Burpee miscaculated the value. They really have little use for it.

I think those somewhat less practical, moisture-loving, heat loving, slug-magnet, rich-soil-and-good-drainage-demanding and annual-cleaning-needing perennials that Heronswood offered in such great numbers appealed to people with more disposable income than the somewhat more practical offerings of the other great specialty nurseries we like. That's a generalization, of course; I bought a lot of things from Heronswood on my small income.

By the way, not to change the subject but has anyone heard anything about the fate of Western Hills Nursery in the last year? Their garden was, in my opinion, almost as cool as Heronswood.

Hi Ian! I saw Dick Turner (Pac Hort Magazine) at Parker's Memorial last week and we talked about Western Hills. He said the first real estate agent didn't market the nursery properly and they had no interest from potential buyers for a year. The price has been dropped to $1.9 million. Maggie is still living on site, and you can get in by appointment -- for a very short appointment. If you're low maintenance/interesting, the appointment is extended. Apparently she's never been happier and is enjoying life. This is great to hear considering how hard she's worked over the years.

Diane

Glad to hear that Western Hills is still open by (limited) appointment. Maggie is terrific and has an awesome collection.

more insider info from staff and neighboring nurseries

Here is a link that might be useful: North Kitsap Herald article

It's the ultimate in being slimed.

Burpee will have no use for the nursery. It will surely be on the market very soon. I'm betting Hinkley & Jones will organize a group to buy it. Look for Martha to be involved. That's my prediction.

Follow the Bouncing Ball.

Something smells about this whole thing. It may be that it just sucks to have Heronswood disappear, but every time I read Mr Balls statements they don't make sense. In todays world of UPS and FED EX shipping access is not a problem. The cost? Maybe, But really how many more orders are going to the east coast than the west coast? It's not like PA is any closer to CA than WA is the NY.

And have you been to the website? It is been Burptized already. I will very likely not buy from Heronswood again. I can't stomach the idea that Burpee will get a dime of my money. Time to visit Colvos.

Other than Far Reaches and Colvos what are some other local, smallish nurseries that you can recommend?

jb

Steamboat Island (Olympia area)

Wind Poppy

Cold Springs (Duvall? Spectacular location!!)

Forest farm (OR)

Porterhowse Conifers (OR)

Lots in OR

Diane thanks! I'm glad Maggie is still there.... it would be cool if she just stays there and sort of phases out the nursery, without having to sell the place anytime soon to someone who will not take care of the garden.

JB - yes, Mr. Ball is pretty inconsistent with himself. First he said 'Heronswood's regional focus was its achilles heel' then 'we're going to try all these plants in PA because we're so good at making plants adapt to other climates'... then there is the nonsense in the last article about 'we're not leaving the Pacific Northwest'.... whatever dude. All he's doing is making it more clear to me that he closed Heronswood just because he wanted to.

Another small nursery - Dragonfly Farms Nursery in Kingston, just north of Heronswood (follow the signs). Open Fridays and Saturdays, no mail order though.

Another PNW origin effort that that needs to be supported is THE PLANT LOCATOR - WESTERN REGION (2004, Black-Eyed Susans/Timber) sourcebook. There everyone can find other outfits like Heronswood and what they were offering a few years ago. Exact inventories will be different now but you can find out who has a recent history of offering the particular kinds of plants you are looking for. There's also this...

Here is a link that might be useful: Specialy Nursery Association of Western Washington - specialtynurseries.org

sounds like our desolation is making us all a little briary

Found this email from Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery when I got home tonight:

Greetings PDN'ers:

Most of you have probably heard by now about the closing of Heronswood
Nursery in Kingston,
Washington. Heronswood was one of those very special nurseries that
comes around only once
in a lifetime and we are all lucky to have been able to partake of the
horticultural treasures that
Heronswood made available.

Heronswood fans have reacted with anger, not just at the loss of such a
special nursery, but at the
poor way in which the closing was handled. Nursery faithful were left
with no chance to say
goodbye, or to visit and purchase plants for one last time. At this
time, I'd like to take a few
moments to reflect on Heronswood, Burpee, and mail-order in general, and
of course, how it
relates to us here at Plant Delights.

The closing of Heronswood is a terrible loss for horticulture, but not
one that was unexpected...at
least by anyone who studies horticultural businesses. All the signs
were there. In 2005, the first
color catalog appeared, but instead of a full plant listing, only a few
hundred plants were
chosen that followed no rhyme, reason, or price point strategy. In
2006, Burpee discontinued the
main catalog to save money...in spite of the fact that this was the main
source of income. The
scant selection of plants for the 2006 color catalog were even more
bizarre, being obviously
selected by a catalog designer with no plant knowledge. The website,
was also outsourced to India
and not only appeared 3 weeks late in a crucial January season, but the
re-designed "artsy" site
was so bizarrely unfunctional that even web veterans couldn't make sense
of it. Anyone who
didn't see the end coming was looking through rose-colored glasses.

Heronswood and Plant Delights lived their horticultural lives as
"sister" nurseries on opposite
coasts. Dan and Robert purchased their property in 1987 and we
purchased ours in 1988. We
both began with on-site sales and both began mail-order in 1991. The
set-up of our operations,
including a botanic garden to test and display plants were amazingly
similar. Over the years,
Dan and I have been fortunate to travel together on month-long plant
expeditions and have
visited each others operations many times. It is rare that two
businesses would
have such a parallel development, but this undoubtedly lead to our
long-term friendship.

Both Heronswood and Plant Delights specialized in unusual plants,
Heronswood focusing more
on wild seed-grown woody plants and some perennials, while our focus was
on perennials, with an
emphasis on selected forms. Our catalog offerings also reflected our
differing climates. While
we probably killed as many Heronswood plants as anyone, that never
stopped us from ordering
with the hopes of finding a percentage of the plants that would enjoy
our more hot, humid
climate.

We both used humor as an important tool in our catalogs, although our
writing styles were
dramatically different (esoteric vs. redneck). Our catalogs also
evolved differently, with PDN
opting for color photos and a smaller number of offerings in the printed
catalog, while the
Heronswood catalog became a veritable literary encyclopedia with over
2500 listings.

We both also wanted to create businesses that would engage a personal
connection with our
customers. When successfully done, this creates a very loyal base of
customers, but the down
side is that it makes the loss of a nursery like Heronswood like losing
a friend, or in our case a
sibling. Since we fully expected that this would be the last year for
Heronswood, we spent
several days at Heronswood last June (2005), lecturing for one of their
wonderful garden
seminars, purchasing an obscene array of plants, and saying what proved
to be our goodbye to the
wonderful Heronistas (Heronswood Staff).

Our two nurseries were almost identical size in June 2000, when George
C. Ball of the Burpee
Holding Co. purchased Heronswood. Around the same time, George also
purchased the remains
(URL and mailing list) of the defunct Garden.com in January 2001 for the
reportedly absurdly high price of
$2.4 million). Burpee had also built 4 mega-garden centers in
1999/2000, which were all out of
business by the following year. By September 2001, it became obvious
that George had
overextended himself, when the Burpee Holding Company filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy.

So, who is this George C. Ball? The story starts with George J. Ball, a
pioneer in commercial
horticulture. The George J. Ball Corporation was an umbrella
corporation that eventually
included several companies such as Ball Seed, Pam American Seed Co.,
Ball Flora Plant, Ball
Publishing, and Burpee. The company was started by George C.'s
grandfather, George J. Ball.
George J. had 4 sons who took over the business in 1949 when George J.
Ball died. One by one,
the four brothers died or went in different directions. The remaining
brother Carl, eventually
retired in the mid-1990's and divided the company among his three
children, George C. Ball, his
brother Dexter, and his sister Anna.

The George J. Ball Corporation was split among the siblings with Anna
getting Ball Seed, Pam
American and Ball Flora Plant, which she ran under the umbrella
corporation, Ball Horticulture.
Dexter took a buyout, while George C. formed a separate company that
included Ball
Publishing and Burpee, which George J. Ball Corporation had originally
purchased in 1991.
George ran Ball Publishing a short time, but then sold it back to his
sister, Anna.

George continues today as President of Burpee and as outlined earlier,
also went on to
pursue other less successful ventures under the umbrella of the Burpee
Holding Company
(no business relation to Anna's Ball Horticulture). With the failed garden
centers, the story goes that George poured huge amounts of money into
each garden center,
which in turn lost huge amounts of money. George then showed up himself
to fire the staff and
lock the doors. Sound familiar?

Many of us questioned the motive of the Heronswood purchase, since it
was clear that the
purchase was not good from a business investment perspective. For the
price that Burpee paid
for Heronswood, and the expected yearly cash flow, the payback of
principle would have
neared a human lifetime. There is no banker in the world that would
rate this as a good
investment for financial return.

So, why did Burpee purchase Heronswood? We can only speculate, but this
is not the first large
corporation to buyout a smaller nursery. Most of these buyouts have
not proven profitable for
the larger profit-minded corporation and have been maintained only as a
five-year tax loss write-off.
I have never met George Ball and have not spoken to him regarding the
Heronswood purchase. I
know that Burpee had laid out grandiose plans for Heronswood at the time
of the purchase. The
plan included a 20-acre production facility, a tissue culture lab, and
much more. The
Heronswood gene pool certainly had a value for the Burpee breeding
program, but of more
interest was probably the position that Heronswood Nursery held within
the nursery industry.
Heronswood was constantly featured in magazine articles and television
shows. Dan and Martha
Stewart were good friends and purchasing Heronswood no doubt meant some
access to that
world for Burpee

Having closely followed the Heronswood deal from the beginning, I have
no question that both
parties made the deal with the best of intentions, but as we all know,
not all relationships work
out. Granted, divorce is usually a better option than the more
aggressive spouse killing off the
weaker one, but unfortunately, this relationship didn't live up to
expectations and the results led to
a very messy ending.

I have read newspaper reports that indicate that Heronswood will re-open
for mail-order on the
East Coast. Yes, and I've got some well-draining swampland in Florida
for sale. None of us
know for sure what will happen with their nursery stock or even the
nursery display gardens.
None of us know if Dan and Robert will start a new nursery venture. I
expect they don't even
know at this point if another nursery is in the cards. At least, the
type of non-compete
agreements in place have generally been ruled void by the courts. I
think it would be great if the
City of Kingston would purchase the gardens and open them as a public
garden. Better yet,
George Ball could recover a bit of good will if he donated the property
to the town of Kingston.
If you never visited Heronswood, you missed out on one of the truly
special botanic gardens in
the country.

What would have happened if Heronswood had not sold to Burpee? No one
knows. What I can
tell you is that most mail order nurseries have a life expectancy of
10-15 years. I can count on
one hand those that have lasted longer than this under the same
ownership. I'm talking about
when a mail-order nursery is run as a business (a industry standard
salary paid to the owner) as
opposed to a hobby mail-order nursery. Why is this the case? In
reality, it is a combination of
factors, from mental stress to fiscal stress. While it may seem hard to
believe, it is very difficult
for a mail-order nursery to be profitable. Remember, I'm talking about
those run as a business
with real business overhead. Some of the largest mail-order nurseries
in the country are suffering
mightily and one came within days of being closed quite recently.

Could Heronswood be purchased and run as a mail order nursery again?
The answer is no... if
you actually wanted to make money. Burpee purchased Heronswood for far
more than it was
worth. After the purchase, Heronswood sales began a gradual decline
that continued through this year.
This decline in sales made the nursery worth dramatically less than when
it was originally
purchased by Burpee. During the same time, the value of the nursery
land has dramatically
increased in value. Today, the land is worth several times what the
nursery is worth. You can
see why purchasing the existing site and running Heronswood as a nursery
again doesn't make
financial sense.

What's the lesson here? If you have a favorite nursery, patronize it.
Are you one of those sitting
there wishing you had sent in your Heronswood order earlier? Lesson
learned...if you see a
special plant at a mail-order nursery, don't wait because tomorrow may
be too late.

So, is Plant Delights planning to go anywhere or sell out? The answer
is emphatically, No. At
least, the answer today is No. We are in our 16th year in mail order
and we have indeed reached
the typical life expectancy of our type of business. One of the things
that make us a bit different
is that we love the business part of running a nursery as much as we do
the plants. None of us
know what tomorrow will bring and one day, our time will come, but it is
our sincere hope to be
around for quite a while. Thanks again for your support and best wishes
to Dan and Robert in their next venture.

-tony

--
Tony Avent
Plant Delights Nursery @
Juniper Level Botanic Garden
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA
Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F
Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F
USDA Hardiness Zone 7b
email tony@plantdelights.com
website http://www.plantdelights.com
phone 919 772-4794
fax 919 772-4752
"I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent

That about sums it up.

I write a blog which sporadically covers gardening & one of my readers just informed me about the tragic news & also told me of this thread. So I'm just here to commiserate with the rest of the gardening community here. It's a littel like we're at an online wake, isn't it?

If anyone's interested, I wrote a rather dyspeptic blog post about this awful event (linked to this comment). It includes links to all 3 local news articles about the closure along with some of Ball's stupider comments given in interviews.

Plus, no one here mentioned George Ball's idiotic, self-serving diatribe against native plant lovers in the NY Times a few months ago. Question: How are native plant lovers like the anti-immigration Minutemen? Get my drift? If I were Dan Hinckley & read that stupid piece I would've realized it was only a matter of time before Heronswood was shuttered.

Here is a link that might be useful: Burpee's Act of Garden Vandalism: Heronswood is Gone

Thanks for the statement from Tony Avent. It makes Burpee and George Ball seem more idiotic than evil.

Anyone with the right skills could still make money running a nursery from that site, if the land were purchased with cash. It's "worth" as a residential property wouldn't be lost just because the land is continued as a nursery.

Anne Raver has another terrific piece in today's NYT gardening column about Heronswood's closing. She covers the story as a tragedy, but w/o the bile which I feel towards Burpee (not that you can't clearly detect her own personal feelings about the matter by reading bet. the lines).

She also notes that Ball realized as early as 2002 that the purchase wasn't going to work out for him & offered to sell it back to Dan & Robert for $2-million (they sold it for $4.5 million). But they apparently couldn't come up w. the cash. At the time they were prob. in the middle of building their new home nearby & coming up w. the extra dough possibly would've been tough or impossible.

George Ball, ever a man with a way for bon mots, continues to make doozies in the press. Raver quotes him as favoring "keeping the garden open to the public" by turning it into a "high-end retirement community with nice condos."

Ian wa above says Ball seems more "idiotic than evil." How about both?

It's good to see how much they sold Heronswood for. $4.5 million may sound like a lot of money, but it's not really a huge sum for a world-renowned business and a large one-of-a-kind property. That's chump-change (not much) for many in the Seattle area where many houses are approaching $1 million.

If Ball offered to sell it back for $2 million, it shows he is interested. Perhaps he is threatening to turn it into a condo community as a way to pressure Hinkley & Jones into putting togather a deal. There's no way it would become a retirement community. I doubt anyone other than a plant-oriented group will dare touch it. I can't help but think it's not over for Heronswood. Hinkley & Jones now have friends for whom $2 million is quite manageable. I'm sure there are many who would love to be savior and part owner of Heronswood just for the fun of it.

Ball does seem to be a fool and his money.

Perhaps he'll run for president!

Richards 1052:

I read Anne Raver's latest NYT article several times but don't see any of the info you've quoted. Can you post a link to the article?

Thanks

Found the article. Didn't see page 2 earlier. Lots of info there.

Found this old thread after doing a search for Far Reaches. We hope to make a visit there this coming Friday.

I'm sure I read this thread back in the day as it was shocking and sad that Heronswood seemed to be going away, nursery, gardens, plants, it's people and all. It's interesting looking back knowing how things have turned out lately with the s'klallam tribe having bought and taken over the property, it's gardens and that Dan is at least partially involved in a restoration and expansion of the gardens. At least that's what he said at a Bellevue Botanical Gardens lecture by John Anderson, the Keeper of the Gardens at Windsor Castle. It was a nice talk that was at times funny and others a bit dry, but still enjoyable for this plant nerd. But I must say seeing Dan and hearing that he was still involved in the Northwest plant scene was one of my fav moments.

We have been planning a trip to Far Reaches for several years and it always gets postponed as it is quite a drive and really takes an entire day. We have the day off and the weather seems to be cooperating and I have my eye on some epimediums, some Podophyla and some dactylorhiza and I'm sure a few surprise plants will catch our eye and drain our pocketbooks,

I've been aware of Kelly and Sue's work for many years and purchased a few plants from them when their nursery was called Reflections Gardens. It was a rather small affair with not much in the way of display gardens and when we first walked up to the selection of plants to buy it seemed uninspiring. But as we walked the few aisles of plants we first saw one cool plant and then another and pretty soon we had a car load heading home with us.

They've been settled at Far Reaches for many years now and having perused their catalog I know there are many gems to find.

junior, have you been to Heronswood since the tribe bought it? They, under the continued guidance of Dan, are doing a grear job of restoration and caretaking. It is just up the street from me (more or less :-)) so I do stop by on their Open Days every now and again just to check things out and see what changes have been made. So far they are staying true to the original character of the garden. I still mss the nursery itself (and in its heyday, it offered way more than 2100 species someone mentioned upthread!!) but they do bring in a very nice selection of local specialty nurseries on these days to appease those who absolutely must go home with a new plant. And usually always have offerings from Windcliff, which is the micronursery Dan now operates from his new property.

Due also to proximity, I visit Far Reaches as often as i can....at least once a season. And I never go with a shopping list but just to wander and look and see what's new and exciting. And I always seem to manage to come home with a trunk full of goodies :-) And an empty bank account!

I've been once to an open day with all the local nurseries selling. Toured the gardens and emptied the bank account. I'm sure we'll make it out there again, maybe this year. After hitting Far Reaches we hope to be up for the Woodinville Garden Club sale at St Michelle winery this Saturday. That can have some great prices if not terribly exotic plants, especially if you get there early.

Heronswood is now a registered trademark. As a member (of the Garden) I get mailings from the Port Gamble SKallam Foundation - the Spring Plant Sale this year is May 11-12. See heronswoodgarden.org for more information about the Garden etc.

Otherwise, under Dan as Director the woodland garden is currently being greatly increased in size, the existing parking lot is supposed to be replaced by an alpine garden and the parking has been said to be on its way to the southwest corner of the property.