WEST CHICAGO, IL – On Friday morning, May 21, the Burpee Home Gardens^® Team encouraged its Chicago neighbors to get out and grow vegetables this gardening season. Nearly 2,000 potted vegetable plants were given away to early-morning commuters near Union Station at Riverside Plaza in downtown Chicago to celebrate the passing of the frost-free date and the arrival of the planting season.

Six racks of vegetables were brimming over with numerous varieties of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, pumpkins, herbs, and more, and delivered to the site where The Team shared the joys of gardening and riled up enthusiasm for home vegetable gardens. Even with a wet forecast, hundreds of passers-by were the lucky recipients of garden-ready potted plants and information from Burpee. The 2,000 plants were gone in less than an hour!

“We were amazed and thrilled with how excited the crowd was to receive their potted vegetables from Burpee Home Gardens,” says Jessie Atchison, brand manager for Burpee Home Gardens. “We were out there to encourage Chicagoans to try vegetable gardening this year. If they were gardening veterans, we were challenging them to try something new.”

The Burpee Home Gardens Team was also interested in getting people to think about why they garden. Burpee sees four main motivators behind vegetable gardening, calling them the Four E’s:

• Eating better
• Education
• Environment
• Economy

“Chicago is our neighbor, and we’re happy to share, inspire confidence and help home gardeners succeed with vegetables this season,” Atchison says.

Burpee Home Gardens is a new product line of time-tested Burpee vegetable and herb varieties available in garden-ready plants at garden centers nationwide. This year, Burpee launched its “I Can Grow” program, a national program to support a new, popular interest in home vegetable gardening among younger and novice gardeners. Community and youth gardening events have been planned across the country as part of the “I Can Grow” program promotion.

To see more photos from the Chicago giveaway event, and to see more “I Can Grow” coverage, visit Burpee Home Gardens on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BurpeeHomeGardens.

Burpee Home Gardens® is the result of a partnership between Ball Horticultural Company and W, Atlee Burpee. It is a new program of garden-ready vegetable and herb plants available nationally at retail garden centers in Spring 2010. Backed by the 125-year history of Burpee, the first name in home gardening, Burpee Home Gardens provides gardeners with time-tested varieties and information, ideas and inspiration for success. For more information visit www.BurpeeHomeGardens.com.