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FeedGot Trees?
John B. Ward & Co. has spent five decades caring for the Main Line’s finest.
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Jan. 1, 1957 wasn’t exactly the best of days—or seasons—to start what would become a burgeoning fine-tree care business. On Saturdays that winter, Ezekiel Cromie and John B. Ward went in opposite directions through Main Line neighborhoods, knocking on doors to generate work for their then-business Ward & Cromie.
Mostly, they were awarded dead trees—trees no one else wanted. Ward had just returned from a two-year stint in the Army and was three years removed from Penn State University, where he earned a degree in ornamental horticulture. “We were [taking] jobs we wouldn’t normally want—but, of course, we had nothing,” Ward recalls. “Still, from that day on, we never had a day where we didn’t have work.”
Such were the humble beginnings of what is now Wayne’s John B. Ward & Co., which towers above most others in the tree-care-industry forest. Besides its more than 50-year history of handling the Main Line’s finest trees, the Wards are also active philanthropists.
In honor of Arbor Day—April 30 this year—Ward and his three sons will split time between two elementary schools. First up: Merion Elementary School, where they’ll discuss the significance of Arbor Day—created by Nebraska’s J. Sterling Morton in 1872—and distribute Nordmann Fir saplings to a hundred first-graders. At Friends School Haverford, the Wards will address students in kindergarten through third grade.
Back in the day, Ward specialized in planting and tree work. His partner, meanwhile, could do it all—landscaping, planting, patios, walks and driveways. “[Cromie was] an amazing worker,” says Ward. “He was a climber; I was his ground man.”
Both ends of the business blossomed, and in 1977, there was enough work to split into two companies. Cromie has since passed away, and his sons didn’t carry on his business. That’s the exact opposite of the Ward family success story.
Ward’s three sons have continued his legacy. Jim, the oldest, has been at his father’s side since 1985. Today, he’s the company president. “He’s the heart and soul of this business,” his dad says. “As a 6-year-old, he was planting trees and handled the shovel like a man. He’s always been 100 percent ready to go.”
Though his specialty is management and finance, Matt Ward is still a certified arborist. He came aboard in 2000. So did younger brother Chris—as their father, now 77, was easing into semi-retirement. Chris handles plant fertilization and spraying, areas John Ward still prides himself in.
Ward maintains an active interest in the Penn-Del Chapter of the International Society of Aboriculture. For the past 25 years, ISA’s Penn-Del Chapter has always selected a different nonprofit venue for a charitable workday. One year, the Wards suggested the St. Edmond’s Home for Children in Bryn Mawr, where volunteer crews pruned 50 trees. For the Devereux Foundation in Berwyn, John B. Ward & Co. has been planting Sugar Maples along the drive on Leopard Road. After this year, they’ll have donated 16 trees to Devereux’s Whitlock Center.
The company also spends a day at Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals in Radnor, pruning, grinding stumps or removing invasives each fall. “We’re helping them plan for the future,” says Matt.
Each December, Ward coordinates an annual meeting of 50 or so industry folks for what he calls a “pest bull session” to discuss insect knowledge and the safest, most up-to-date disease-control chemicals to combat them. “I’ve just always seen a need to keep educating guys in the field,” Ward says.
