David Landreth

David Landreth was born at Haggerston, Northumberland, England in 1752.  He is credited with establishing the first American commercial seed company.

David and his family arrived in North America from England in 1780 and began a seed business in Montréal, Canada.  In 1784 David relocated to Philadelphia and named the company David Landreth.

They began growing flowering shrubs and hothouse exotics in their nursery and greenhouses and propagated seeds from the Lewis and Clark expeditions.  This introduced native plants into the commercial trade.  His brother Cuthbert joined the company in 1789 and the name changed to David & Cuthbert Landreth in 1790.

The Landreths introduced the Mexican Zinnia in 1798, the garden tomato in 1820, followed by 'Landreths’ Extra Early' pea in 1822 and 'Bloomsdale' spinach in 1826.

David's son, David Landreth, Jr., was dispatched to Charleston, South Carolina in 1818 to open a branch there.  He took over operation of the company upon his father's death in 1828.

Sources:

• Landreth Seed Company Timeline
• Landreth Family Genealogy Page
• The Third Hundred Years
• The Old Times Old Seed Catalogs
• University of Delaware - The Art of Botanical Illustration
• History of Horticulture - Landreth, David 18th Century
• "Landreth, Cuthbert;" Dictionary of American Biography, Under the Auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies...  New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1928-58.
• "Landreth, David;" Dictionary of American Biography, Under the Auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies...  New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1928-58.

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