A bonus for any visitor making a purchase of $18.16 or more is a free ¼”-caliper Honeycrisp apple tree. Customers who stop by on Earth Day (Sunday, April 22 only) can get a white flowering dogwood tree for just $10 each.
Terry Stark, one of Stark Bro’s resident horticultural experts, will present a grafting demonstration Saturday, April 21 at 11am, and John Logan, a descendant of the Stark family, will offer a wine-making seminar at 2pm the same day.
Two fund-raising lunches will be on the table during the event as well. The Buffalo Township United Fund will hold one of their twice-yearly BBQ meals on Friday, April 20 from 10am to 2pm. Lunch includes a pulled pork sandwich, chips, a cookie and a drink) for $7.00. Cinnamon rolls are $3 each, 2/$5 or $25/dozen. Delivery is available with a minimum order of 5 lunches or 12 cinnamon rolls. To pre-order, email
[email protected] or call 314-578-3501. Proceeds go to help more than a dozen charitable organizations in Buffalo Township.
The FFA (Future Farmers of America) is also holding a fund-raising lunch to help pay for a trip to the national FFA convention. On Saturday, April 21 from 10:30am to 1:30 pm, visitors can get a $5 pork-burger meal that includes chips, cookies and a soda. Both lunch services will be held on the Garden Center grounds.
By the time the third generation of Starks was at the helm, business was booming. In 1893 the brothers held the first International New Fruit Fair, which encouraged growers to send samples of new varieties for judging. The first winner was a strange-looking elongated apple with five bumps on the blossom end, but no one knew who sent the apples. The same grower, Jesse Hiatt, sent his apples again for the following year's event. That odd-shaped fruit, which was the Delicious apple, won the contest. Clarence Stark immediately bought the rights and changed the industry forever.
In 1914, A. H. Mullins sent a similar sample package of apples to the Stark Brothers, only these were yellow. Their flavor and keeping ability were far beyond any other known yellow apple; this sample became 'Golden Delicious,' probably the world's most famous apple. Nearly 60% of the world's apples are descended from Red and Golden Delicious.
Luther Burbank, the famous "The Wizard of Horticulture," was fascinated upon hearing of this new "Delicious" variety, and so began a long and productive association between he and the Stark brothers. Just before Luther's passing in 1926, he selected Stark Bro's to carry on his important work with more than 750 of his varieties. In 1986, Clay Stark Logan, the last of the Starks to run the company, had the great honor of inducting Luther Burbank into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
For all of his ingenuity and time spent developing new varieties, Luther barely made enough money to survive. The reason: because anyone could propagate his trees and essentially "steal" the variety, making it impossible for him to profit on his inventions. Thanks to the work of Luther and Paul Stark Sr. (along with the help of Thomas Edison), legislation was passed in 1930 that allowed growers to patent distinctly different fruit tree varieties. Stark Bro's was the first to get a patent in 1932, when it applied for protection of the Stark® Hal-Berta™ Giant peach. Over the years, Stark Bro's has secured many dozens of fruit tree and plant patents.
In 1994, the Stark family decided to sell the company to a large mail-order corporation that owned a group of horticultural catalog companies. Less than a decade later, during the summer of 2001, that conglomerate went out of business. The bankruptcy left most of Stark Bro's dedicated employees without a job. The few who remained knew that in order to save Stark Bro's, they would have to save the current crop. A small but dedicated group, known as "The Budders," took to the fields, grafting and budding every rootstock, without pay. But for this extraordinary group of people, Stark Bro's might have perished.
On the now-historic morning of September 11, 2001, a bankruptcy auction determined a new path for this great company, then 185 years old. Stark Bro's was purchased by Cameron Brown and Tim Abair, and was once again under family ownership. It remains one of the oldest businesses in the country.
Two hundred years later, Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co. is the world's oldest continuously-operating nursery, and happily remains a business driven by family legacy and honored tradition.
As we have for the last 200 years, Stark Bro's intends to be at the forefront of the industry in innovation, productivity and outstanding customer service. And while there are no longer any Stark family members employed at the company, their presence is still felt daily, as is Luther Burbank's. The fervent loyalty to the company's heritage remains; it is apparent from the CEO to the field workers that their mission is not only to work, but to be good protectors of the legacy and remarkable history of the company. It's the "Stark Way."
Our Company
We begin digging and shipping the majority of our fruit trees when they have reached a hibernating stage (called dormancy). Planting a tree during this stage will help to protect it from sudden frost, severe weather and other potential dangers that can threaten a non-dormant tree. For most of our varieties, we recommend planting your dormant tree in fall, which will allow roots to settle in, gain establishment and wake up healthy the following spring. For additional information, see our
Use this handy glossary of terms we frequently use at Stark Bro's to identify and describe our products.
Matures to be about 8-10' tall and wide. Provides an abundance of full-size fruit in a minimal amount of space.
Trees in 4x4x10" bottomless pots that allow some roots to be air pruned, so that a dense mass of productive, feeder roots can grow within the pot to make transplanting easier. Mature sizes vary. When shipped, they are about 1-2' tall.
Limited space doesn't have to mean a limited selection of fruit. Stark® Custom Graft® fruit trees have two (or more) varieties carefully grafted onto one tree. These multi-grafted fruit trees require less space to grow than separate trees, and also provide compatible pollinators -- built right in! To ensure success growing multiple varieties on your Stark® Custom Graft® fruit trees, be sure to prune to keep all varieties in balance.