Burpee Opens the Doors to Its Doylestown Farm: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Gardening Giant

DOYLESTOWN, PA—The gardening giant Burpee opened the doors to its Doylestown estate on Saturday, and people came out in droves.

The once-a-year event is always popular, but turnout this year seemed to be particularly high. The roads around the New Britain Road location of Fordhook Farm around Del Val University were snarled for miles, and some attendees had to park and walk upwards of 20 minutes to get to the front gates of the Burpee estate.

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Once they were inside, however, few were complaining. That’s because most people were too busy admiring the elaborate gardens inside the estate and wandering around the compound of majestic buildings that looks like it could be a movie set.

The first thing most visitors see when they enter Fordhook Farm is the Kitchen Garden. The large space is packed with plants, from brightly colored flowers to more utilitarian plants like tomatoes.

Burpee uses this garden for photo shoots for its catalogues, which explains why it is picture-perfect. Hundreds of people wandered through the huge garden, stopping to examine plants and to take lots of pictures of plants that are the heart of the Burpee catalog.

The bright blue sky on Saturday gave the gardens an extra pop. The weather probably had something to do with the crowds at this year’s event.

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Burpee CEO Jamie Mattikow acknowledged that this year’s crowds seemed significantly larger than those at past events. Mattikow explained that may in part be due to the fact that Burpee exhibited at the Philadelphia Flower Show for the first time ever this year and promoted the event.

The company began holding the Burpee Open in the late 1800s as a farmer’s picnic that would attract hundreds of guests from Doylestown and the surrounding areas. Back then, farmers were excited to see Burpee’s facilities and the company’s latest products.

Today, the Burpee Open offers a rare glimpse into a gardening behemoth that just happens to be in Doylestown. While Fordhook Farm is beautiful, it’s also a working farm where Burpee does most of its testing and product development.

“We have gardens that we use to develop our products,” Mattikow said, “and we have gardens that are done just for beauty. Today is a special chance to let everybody sort of see the magic of Burpee.”

Fordhook Farm has a long and rich history. In the late 1800s, Atlee Burpee was running a poultry and livestock company when his customers told him that they needed a better source for seeds. While most companies at that time were selling European seeds, Atlee realized that U.S. farmers needed seeds that were more suited to American soil and climates.

Burpee started the first research-based seed business in the U.S, unveiling new varieties of cabbages, lima beans and peppers throughout the end of the 1800s. One of his best-known inventions was iceberg lettuce, which stayed crisp longer than other varieties.

Burpee also seized on the new idea of mail-order deliveries and created “Burpee’s Farm Annual.” While still in his 20s, Burpee was running one of the world’s fastest growing mail-order seed companies.

In 1888, Burpee purchased in Doylestown and named it Fordhook Farm. The property today continues to serve as Burpee’s research headquarters, providing a test site for vegetables, annuals and perennials.

Looking around during Saturday’s event, visitors could see an enormous barn that once served as Burpee’s original seed house (it today houses meeting space) and a large greenhouse. The Happiness Garden, on the far side of the farm, is a “pollinator-friendly” garden that’s also filled with sculptures.

Fordhook Farm also features a fairly new garden known as the “stumpery.” The semi-wooded garden contains hundreds of tree stumps surrounded by ferns and other plants that flourish in shaded areas.

While the gardens at Fordhook Farm were the big attraction, there were plenty of other activities for guests who don’t have a green thumb. There was live music, food trucks, crafting activities for kids, and a pop-up store in an old barn with merchandise from Burpee, including the company’s iconic seed packets. There were also several lectures and presentations by Master Gardeners.

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