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Articles and posts by Curt Kipp

Welcome to Nursery Country: Rare Tree Nursery

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Brent Markus is a rare individual, having built his own wholesale, retail and landscaping businesses from scratch by the age of 32. Perhaps that’s why his wholesale nursery is called Rare Tree Nursery. But really, it’s the rare plant material he grows: some 700 varieties of dwarf conifers, plus an assortment of Japanese maples.

Season forecast calls for milder temps, more rain

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Phil Volcker of ERF Weather Inc. is expecting that Western Oregon will see a milder winter this year, with above-average rainfall. He shared his thoughts with members of the OAN’s Willamette Chapter during their late November meeting in Salem. “I’m confident we’re going to see a very good water year this year,” he said. Volcker […]

OSU receives $3 million grant to study destructive pathogens

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Agrobacterium tumefaciens creates cancer-like galls on the roots of plants such as Gaillardia. (Photo by OSU Plant Clinic) Oregon State University announced plans to use a $3 million grant to study two groups of bacteria that result in millions of dollars in losses annually to the nation’s nursery industry. According to a press release, OSU researchers […]

Major agricultural lender forecasts improved growth for Oregon nurseries in 2015

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Oregon’s gross nursery sales look like they will exceed $800 million in 2014, and they could very well go even higher than that in 2015, Bob Boyle told OAN members at the November 21 meeting of the OAN Willamette Chapter, which took place in Salem. “I think I’m as bullish now on the industry as […]

Four new states come onboard the Plant Something campaign

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Florida, California, Montana and Georgia have joined the Plant Something marketing campaign, bringing the total number of participating states to 18. The Arizona Nursery Association created the program, and in 2012, Oregon Association of Nurseries became one of the first state nursery associations to adopt it.Plant Something was created with one purpose in mind — […]

Obama primetime address to announce next steps on immigration

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President Obama plans to announce his next steps on the issue of immigration reform in a live television address tonight. The broadcast will take place at 5 p.m., White House officials announced. “Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken,” the president said in a video released on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, Washington has allowed the problem […]

Edible gardening trend remains strong, surveys says

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A majority of consumers (58 percent) plan to grow edible plants next year, according to a report recently published by the Garden Writers Association Foundation (GWAF). The organization’s 2014 October Gardening Trends Research Report goes on to state that, of those not planning to grow edible plants in 2015, over one-third (37 percent) said it […]

Obama to issue executive order on immigration

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As soon as next week, President Obama will issue his long-promised executive order on immigration, according to a report in the New York Times. The order comes after the failure of the Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives to act upon bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform that was passed by the U.S. Senate in 2013. It’s expected […]

Spotting the spotted lanternfly

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Spotted lanternfly. Photograph by Lawrence Barringer, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture According to a tip from OSU Extension entomologist Robin Rosetta, a new insect pest — the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) — was recently detected in Berks County, Pennsylvania. In response, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announced a quarantine with the intent to restrict the movement of this pest. This […]