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Our History
John Ed and Sam Tankard, two hardworking brothers and graduates of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, began lining out their first nursery stock in 1933. Sam, sporting a Harvard Landscape Architecture degree and working for a landscape nursery in Hickory, North Carolina convinced John Ed, a farmer and county agent to convert truck farm acreage to nursery stock. After World War II, they began to earnestly distribute nursery stock in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
John Ed's son, John E. Jr., began working for Tankard Nurseries in 1957, after graduating from Long Island Agricultural & Technical Institute, where he studied horticulture, and then spending two years in Germany with the Army's armored calvary division. He continues to work at the nursery today along with his sons, Ed and Richard.
Roll over an image on the left below to view pictures from our rich history or just for fun Browse our 1961 Catalog
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The azalea field in 1964 being sprayed with our mist blower.
Azaleas shaded by lath for winter protection of buds and foilage. They were field grown in full sun. We offered field grown azaleas until the mid 1990's.
Large hand-dug B&B material being loaded up in the late 1960's. We sold trees up to 8 inch caliper at that time.
One of the founding fathers of Tankard Nurseries, John E. Tankard, Sr., is pictured here in the 1950's.
Sam Tankard standing in a field of Ilex rotundifolia in 1955.
John E. Tankard, Jr. admiring a Tankard Nurseries' holly in December 1964.
John E. Jr., John E. Sr. & Sam Tankard in front of the main office.
A loaded flat-bed trailer in the 1970's.
Ed & Richard Tankard at a Trade Show in 1988.
Ed, John E. Jr., & Richard Tankard in the Pot-in-Pot Field in November 2004.
© 2006 Tankard Nurseries