Company History

The Burpee company was founded in Philadelphia in 1876 by an 18 year-old with a passion for plants and animals and a mother willing to lend him $1000 dollars of "seed money" to get started in business. Within 25 years he had developed the largest, most progressive seed company in America. By 1915 we were mailing a million catalogues a year to America's gardeners.

Click Here to read the Legacy of W. Atlee Burpee.
Browse a gallery of Burpee catalogs through the years.

Burpee is still a family seed company and still in the Philadelphia area. Today we are owned and operated by George Ball Jr.