Jackson & Perkins Company, commonly known as Jackson & Perkins, is an American company that cultivates roses. Since its founding in 1872, Jackson & Perkins has grown to sell other products, including live plants, garden accessories, holiday gifts, and home decor.
History
Early history The company's name came from the two partners who started the business, Charles H. Perkins (1840–1924) and his father-in-law, Albert E. Jackson (1807–1895). The company began in 1872, in Newark, New York, as a truck farm selling strawberries, raspberries, and grapes. Perkins became interested in the wholesale nursery business and he began selling vines and shrubs to nearby retail nurseries. In 1882, Charles became fascinated with rose propagation. In 1884, he hired Alvin Miller as foreman of his newly evolving rose business. Miller, a hybridizer, was directed to develop a special rose new to the rose market. His first success, introduced in 1901, was the Dorothy Perkins rose, named for Charles Perkins' granddaughter Dorothy. In 1908, this rose won top honors at the Royal National Rose Society. It also started a long tradition of naming roses for people. This rose has been mentioned by several authors in their works, including F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jackson & Perkins stopped marketing the original Dorothy Perkins rose because the plant was prone to mildew and disease. It is still available from specialty nurseries. To this day the Dorothy Perkins climbing rose adorns the walls of Windsor Castle. Jackson & Perkins remained a family affair when, in 1928, Charles "Charlie" Perkins, nephew of the founder, succeeded his cousin George C. Perkins as President. He furthered the company's involvement in rose hybridization by hiring Jean Henri Nicolas, an internationally known French hybridizer, to head the new, expanded rose hybridization department. The family home at Newark, known as the Jackson–Perkins House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. After Nicolas's death in 1937, Eugene Boerner, his understudy, became J&P's head hybridizer. Boerner made great strides in the floribunda class of rose, a classification name coined by C.H. Perkins, a cousin of Charles. In 1939, Boerner increased J&P's stock of roses by collecting 10,000 cuttings from growers in Europe. These cuttings were instrumental in the successful propagation of new varieties. J&P, along with other innovative growers, wanted protection for the plants they launched. The United States Congress, in 1931, extended plant patent protection to nurseries that developed and introduced new plants to the nursery trade. This law gives patent-holders seven years of competition-free production.
World's Fair rose The 1939 New York World's Fair proved to be the perfect venue for introducing Jackson & Perkins roses to the nation. Charlie Perkins participated in the fair with a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) garden display holding 8,000 roses. World's Fair, a red floribunda rose, was the star attraction. Approximately 40,000 people signed up to have information or the World's Fair rose shipped. This gave the company a ready-made customer list. Catalogs were developed, and the Jackson & Perkins mail order business, the first mail order rose nursery in the nation, was launched. World's Fair was the winner of the first All-America Rose Selection competition, followed by a string of winners. Katherine T. Marshall won in 1944. Fashion, a coral-peach rose, won the AARS competition in 1950. The following years brought a string of champions: Vogue, Ma Perkins, Jiminy Cricket, White Bouquet, Gold Cup, and Ivory Fashion. Eugene Boerner won fourteen All-America rose honors, including three more awarded after his death. Jackson & Perkins roses became the stars of the rose world, not just because of the development of hybrids, but also because of the attention given to naming the new introductions. Blaze and Fashion have lasting appeal. Star-struck names, such as Cary Grant, Dolly Parton, Kate Smith, and Arlene Francis could help propel a rose to popularity. Many of these roses are still in production.
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