• Burpee's Ambrosia Hybrid Cantaloup: 86 days, No. 50161A, Pkt. 30 seeds, $4.95. A favorite melon for over 20 years, consistently sweet, firm and juicy, 6-inch diameter, weight of 5 lbs.

W. Atlee Burpee is a name that many gardeners will recognize quickly, and a name that all gardeners should know. The “W” ...

Every day from Dec. 1 to 25, a flap is opened in the Seed House to reveal small seed packet featuring their 2017 selections. Burpee also included a small catalog describing the 25 varieties.

A few years later, I noticed that the Burpee Seed Catalog offered a variety called ‘Garden Sweet,’ reputed by the catalog to be “30 to 60% sweeter than other peas.” ...

A collection of seed packets (Photo by Jeff Lowenfels) In the early days of this column, I had a list of several “must have” seed catalogs. They were all snail mail catalogs.

The familiar list of seed catalogs includes Burpee Seed, Gurney Seed and Nursery, Jung Seed, Territorial Seed, Johnny’s selected Seeds, Totally Tomatoes, Park Seed, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds ...

Didn’t I push ordering seeds, studying cultural information and drooling over pictures, not to mention the thrill of getting a catalog out of the mail box? I know. I know. Let’s face it, however.

Burpee, undoubtedly one of the biggies in the garden-seed industry, mails out catalogs with all-glossy pages and color photos of its vegetable, flower, fruit and herb offerings.

The 2022 seed catalog has heirloom iceberg lettuce that was introduced in 1894 and the world’s first yellow sweet corn (Golden Bantam), introduced by Burpee in 1902.