As our relocation celebrates its first birthday, I’d like to clarify a few points, and celebrate others.

1. With respect to the Heronswood Gardens in Kingston, Washington, I never said to the media that we would “develop condos” on the property. I have said quite the opposite: That the gardens would be preserved.

However, while answering questions from newspaper reporters, I discussed the possibility of a small, innovative, plant care-oriented “botanical retirement home” that would be centered around the main gardens. I thought that tending to rare and beautiful plants, in addition to playing golf or watching TV, would be a desirable focus of a retirement community. I had heard of one in Norway.

Therefore, I asked the local zoning commissioner about procedures. “Could I start a little retirement home for serious gardeners? Just a few multi-unit dwellings centered around the celebrated Heronswood gardens?”

Unfortunately, the newspaper reporters were interested only in the word, “condos”, (relative to the type of units built around the garden), and the rest is history. The following week the word, “condos”, was spread, along with my photo, across newspapers and websites nationwide, in which I was wrongly characterized as a “greedy developer”.

As we did a year ago, we continue to promise that the garden will be sold only to a buyer who will agree to preserve it.

2. After learning that there was “almost absolutely” no likelihood that the zoning would be changed for at least 5 years, “and probably not even then”, I put the historic private garden on the market for $11MM, since lowered to $9MM. I received either ridicule or disbelief about the price from the same journalists who have repeatedly called the garden “a regional treasure” and likened it to the Seattle Mariners, the Statue of Liberty and even the old Pennsylvania Train Station in New York City. “Paradise”, “Shangri La”, “Eden” and “a priceless community asset” is how the garden has been described in the Seattle and Portland newspapers, The New York Times, and dozens of home and gardening magazines.

Indeed, after hearing the price, they asked me why there was any value to Heronswood Gardens other than its “land”. This astonishing response came from journalists and press representatives of an urban elite in Seattle and Portland, which includes hundreds, if not thousands, of wealthy corporate executives, and more than a few billionaires. Yet my company and I were accused of “corporate greed”. In fact, we lost a great deal of money.

3. We bought the 7-1/2 acre Heronswood Nursery for over $4.5MM in 2000. Less than a year later, we doubled its size to 15 acres. In good faith and with much effort and investment of time and money, we operated a money-losing business for over 5 years.

Imagine the following: You go to your job and work all day for two weeks, at the end of which time the company gives you a bill. Not a check you cash, but a bill you owe. You pay to work. This is what operating a money-losing company is like. There is no worse feeling in business, just as being profitable feels the best. One direction points to an obviously great future—the other to pain. This is why businesses that lose money are unstable, and those that make money are buoyant and sustainable. Their customers “float” them, not with sentiment or a sense of moral superiority, but with money. The owner’s job is to make this happen and then, through raises, profit-sharing and bonus plans, to give some of this money to the employees, who do things like put their kids through college. The owner does this happily, gladly, wisely. Hence, the opposite is also true: when in trouble, the owner looks and asks for solutions and help. We tried unsuccessfully to accomplish our goal to stabilize the company for 5 years.

Now, at Fordhook, we have a larger research garden. In central PA and Delaware, we have dozens of acres for production, as well as research, close to huge centers of population. We can serve the entire U.S. more effectively—even the Pacific Northwest and California. We look forward to satisfying our many long-standing customers for years to come. We received thousands of positive responses to our Open Days last year.

4. Letting the employees go was an extremely painful process for both us, and, especially, them. I hated to do it. We tried many times to come up with a viable plan to keep the operations in western Washington, but finally chose to move east. We gave a very generous severance package to everyone. We paid every employee for at least several weeks, even ones that had been there as few as two days. Most got much more. We continued health insurance for the rest of the spring and summer. We offered all employees free outplacement services. Nine employees who demonstrated extraordinary ability and initiative were kept on for the summer after accepting a severance package even better yet. (Three are still working in Washington, helping us conduct rare plant research).

5. There has been a constant drumbeat of criticism that we “ruined” Heronswood. Not true. As a retail and mail order business, Heronswood was in extremely challenging circumstances when Burpee bought it. That’s why the founders sold it in 2000 and declined to repurchase it in a “Lotto-like” deal in 2003. (They could have gotten twice the land, an expanded nursery and beautiful research gardens, and kept half the purchase price). After they declined our offer, they tried to help us make some improvements. The catalog, in small print and dark green ink (hard to read), was unique in not illustrating a single one of the 2,500+ offers. We had to make serious and substantial changes.

In addition, we had to change almost all of the “internals”. The inventory management was very unusual, as we eventually discovered too late. It consisted of selling out almost immediately of anything that was popular, while maintaining inventory of what was not — the opposite of a healthy business. Thus, we were quickly out of all of our good items and overstocked in the less attractive ones. Rare items collected abroad were routinely sold out immediately, on the basis of a philosophy of sharing with others. This well-intentioned approach backfired for Heronswood as a company. Few of its competitors resisted these offers, but few also reciprocated. Ironically, this approach caused us to have a small number of authentic new cultivars. Such a practice cannot be successful in any industry. I didn’t realize this when I bought Heronswood. I’ve been criticized for being inept in this regard. Maybe, but I’m not sure I could have ever hit such a screwball. The basis of commerce and trade is possessing something of value, not giving it away. Just as one doesn’t work for two weeks and then receive, instead of a paycheck, a bill. Perhaps such an outlandish approach would be effective for operating a non-profit public botanical garden. People tell me so, but I doubt it, unless the charity was extremely well funded.

6. The “new” Heronswood Nursery represents tremendous work over the last 12 months by both existing and new staff. We greatly appreciate the hard work everyone has done, the patience of our customers, and the support of our many vendors and friends in the horticulture community. The new Heronswood Nursery research and display gardens at Fordhook Farm are spectacular. The gardens in Washington are being meticulously preserved and rejuvenated, as can be seen this coming July 21st, when we hold an Open Day, in cooperation with The Garden Conservacy.

The future looks much brighter than the past. We also welcome our customers to join us to celebrate our first full year at Fordhook Farm in Pennsylvania. We have exciting and new rare perennials, shrubs, ferns, conifers, grasses and vines on display at our two upcoming Heronswood Opens on August 3rd and 4th, and September 21st, and 22nd, along with an excellent lecture and gardening demonstration series for both dates.

Come join us!

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