A diagnosis of tuberculosis sent Jesse Dillman Long (right) west from his home on a farm near Mason City, Iowa in search of a drier climate. After a fried try at recovery in Idaho, he came to Colorado in 1898, first to Colorado Springs and then to Boulder County in the spring of 1900. He secured a job on the Hoover Ranch east of Boulder, earning $1.00 a day. In 1905, with the monetary backing of Issac T. Earl, he was able to purchase the Noah's Ark Store and set out to expand the seed department.

The first mail order seed catalog was issued in 1908 and later the business name was changed to the J.D. Long Seed Company. In 1905 J.D. married fellow Iowan, Cora Curtis and in 1916 they purchased the Charles Parsons place “outside of town” at what is now 3240 Broadway. They raised three children as well as crops of iris, gladiolus, dahlias, peonies and a plethora of other flowers, vegetables and fruits. One of their sons, Everett, gradually took over the business from his father.

Everett married Anne McLaughlin in 1940 and they spent their honeymoon hiking the high country west of Boulder scouting out possible sites for Ev to build an irrigation dam. He was determined to make Long's Gardens work in a semi-arid climate where reliable water was a must. After a stint as a civilian fight instructor in World War II, Ev retuned to Boulder to finish building the dam and the Upper Woodland Lake was transformed into Skyscraper reservoir. Later, when the business concentrated on the more drought tolerant irises, the reservoir was sold to the City of Boulder. Ev continued to work on water sources with the Silver Lake Ditch, the Garden's primary source of water today, and served as a director of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District for 22 years. He also brought Long's Gardens into the machine age, and the Farmall H and two Allis Chalmers G tractors he purchased in the 1940's are still in use today.

Anne McLaughlin Long brought even deeper Colorado roots to the family. Her grandparents moved to Colorado in 1872, before statehood, Her father was a mining engineer and she was born in Trinidad, moving to Boulder at an early age. Her uncle, Elias Ammons, and cousin, Teller Ammons, both served as governors of Colorado.

The women in her family, as well as Cora Long's, made their marks as well. Cora's sister, Alice B. Curtis, was a professor at the Colorado Agricultural College, now Colorado State University. Ann's aunt, Theodosia Ammons, was also a professor there as well as Dean of Women. Both were active in the women's suffrage campaign. Theodosia, was one of the founding faculty of the Colorado Chautauqua in 1898. The following year she designed and had built one of the first cottages there.

Anne and Ev had two daughters, Margaret and Catherine. They, like Ev and his siblings, grew up in the business. Margaret moved on to a career in social services, working in Boulder, Denver and four other counties. She served for 16 years as director of Garfield County Social Services and helped organize Healthy Beginnings in Garfield County and Children's Alley in Boulder. She now works in the Office on Aging in Larimer County but manages to help out by pulling several shifts during the busy bloom season at Long's.

Catherine, like her father, gradually took over the business of running Long's Gardens. She has followed in her father's footsteps in working on the Silver Lake Ditch, serving as co-secretary/treasurer. She has served as a director of the American Iris Society as well as assisting the local iris society. She has also continued the Chautauqua tradition, serving on the Colorado Chautauqua Foundation and maintaining the 105-year-old family cottage. Her husband, Dennis, has is a captain with Frontier Airlines and on his days at home is a partner with Catherine in Long's Gardens, piloting tractors instead of planes.

Growing Gardens, a non-profit entity that cultivates community through gardening, rents a portion of Long's Gardens land, which is home to the North Boulder Community Gardens as well as Cultiva! For youth at risk, and the Children's Peace Garden.

One of the most pleasant aspects of running Long's is the people. Customers come in to the office and say that they're transported back in time. They tell how their grandmothers brought them to Long's when they were kids. The Long family says it has been an honor to be part of Boulder for 100 years.