Warminster, Pennsylvania
January 18,  2001

Burpee Holding Company, parent company of W. Atlee Burpee, America's oldest and most trusted name in gardening, has purchased Garden.com's brand assets, including the company's url (www.garden.com), and certain assets relating to customer information. 

"We welcome Garden.com's customers with open green thumbs," said George Ball, Jr., Burpee Chairman and CEO. "The purchase will strengthen the Burpee brand across all of our business segments, and enhance our online e-commerce presence." 

The garden catalogue world, which Burpee dominates, plus its commitment to retailers and Internet customers, "equals a complete market strategy for the company," according to Ball. 

"Just as we've added a full line of young plants and perennials to our seed offerings, so now we add great strength to our existing web site offers with the acquisition of Garden.com. Now we dominate both the old and new economy in home gardening." 

According to officials at Burpee and Garden.com, the transfer of an individual's customer/member information is subject to providing prior notice and providing the individual the right to exclude his or her individual information. To that end, Garden.com has e-mailed all of its customers to alert them to the purchase and let them know that Garden.com will not transfer any personal financial
information. Burpee is contacting Garden.com customers about its products, special offers, and gardening news. 

The company plans to continue to provide Garden.com customers with the same high level of service, high quality products, and up-to-date gardening content they need to pursue their passion and to keep online gardening alive and well. 

Burpee services both first-time and experienced home gardeners with seeds, plants, gardening supplies, gifts, and outdoor furniture. "For the 125 years we've been in business," said Ball, "our goal has always been to turn America's yards into lush, beautiful gardens and to generate a love of gardening in each new generation that comes along." 

Customers visiting the Garden.com website can transfer directly into the Burpee.com site where they will find thousands of items as well as unique services such as Burpee Garden School, Burpee Garden Wizard, Regional Gardening News, and Gourmet Recipes. 

Founded in 1876 and headquartered in Warminster, PA, W. Atlee Burpee & Co. is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. The company provides seeds, plants, gardening supplies, and accessories for the home gardener. Last year, the company launched three garden retail stores and joined forces with Heronswood Nursery, Ltd., the country's most respected source of rare and unusual perennials. Burpee was the nation's first company to sell seeds by mail order from coast-to-coast. Today, it continues its tradition of developing and evaluating hundreds of new varieties in seed testing labs and trial gardens to ensure gardeners' success. This has
resulted in many popular flower and vegetable varieties, including such well-known American staples as Burpee's Big Boy tomato, Iceberg lettuce, Fordhook lima beans and white marigolds. 

Company news release
N3267