Heronswood (botanical garden) facts for kids
Heronswood is a special place in Kingston, Washington, in the Northwestern United States. It's a beautiful botanical garden where many different plants grow. Heronswood is also known for its business that sells rare and unusual plants by mail.
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The Story of Heronswood Garden
Heronswood Garden was started in 1987 by two people, Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones. They created this amazing garden on a piece of land about the size of 15 football fields.
A Garden of World Plants
The garden shows off many kinds of plants. These plants were gathered from all over the world. They were then grown and tested to see if they could be sold to other plant nurseries in North America. Heronswood Garden became famous around the world. It was known for its creative and nature-friendly way of growing plants. It also showed impressive garden design.
Burpee Company Takes Over
In 2000, a big company called the W. Atlee Burpee Company bought Heronswood. Burpee is well-known for selling seeds. They added Heronswood to their other gardens, which were spread across the U.S. and England. This allowed them to grow plants in many different climates.
Burpee opened the garden to the public sometimes. People could visit on special "Open House" days. However, in 2006, Burpee decided to close the Heronswood business. The company said that not enough people wanted to buy rare plants. This happened when Burpee was also having money problems after growing too quickly.
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe's Care
In the summer of 2012, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe bought Heronswood Garden and the nursery business. The tribe wanted to keep the garden as a special place for everyone.
Jeromy Sullivan, who leads the S’Klallam tribe, said they understood how much people loved Heronswood. He promised they would take care of this local treasure. Today, many people are working to make Heronswood Garden even better. This includes the Heronswood staff, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and many helpful volunteers.
Heronswood Nursery Business
Heronswood is also a business that sells rare and unique plants through catalogs. Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones started this part of Heronswood in 1987 too.
Changes in Ownership
In 2000, the Heronswood nursery business became part of the Burpee Seed Company. Even after the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe bought the garden in 2012, Burpee still had the right to sell some of the special plants that came from Heronswood. Burpee's main gardens are now in Pennsylvania, at a place called Fordhook Farm. This farm was the original home of Washington Atlee Burpee, who was a pioneer in the seed business.
Future Plans
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe is thinking about how the "Heronswood Nursery Company" can help their community. They see it as a way to create jobs and offer training for people.
