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. Although no longer with us, John Jr.'s legacy of integrity, reliability and compassion remain as fixtures that guide us daily.

Roll over an image below to view pictures from our rich history or just for fun Browse our 1961 Catalog