Ball Horticultural history

By 1918, George J. Ball Inc. was selling mail-order seeds to customers around the country.

The operation later moved to the suburbs and, in 1925, the first greenhouses were put in at the company's current site in West Chicago.

1927 The company moves to new headquarters in West Chicago.

Two of his company’s earliest book projects were “Seed Sowing” and “Gravel Culture.” But his best-known work and legacy is the “Ball RedBook.” First published in 1932, the RedBook is considered to be the “bible” for the greenhouse industry.

That same decade, in 1933, the gardens at the West Chicago site opened, Nau said.

That was May 1937, and the convenient pocket-sized publication became the commercial flower grower’s best friend.

By 1947, G. Carl Ball had earned a business degree from the University of Illinois, and he joined the family firm, where he eventually became Ball's national sales manager.

Through 1970, cut flowers, or the seeds and hybrids of cut flowers, were Ball's mainstay.

The first was in 1982, when Ball Publishing was launched as a full-fledged division of Geo.

G. Carl Ball retired in 1995 at the age of 74, and was succeeded by his daughter, Anna Caroline Ball.

In 1998, Ball formed a subsidiary called Ball Helix, which developed new techniques in plant breeding and genetics.

Sales: $90 million (2004 est.)NAIC: 111422 Floriculture Production

In 2005, the company celebrated its first 100 years.