Building repeat business and loyal customers isn’t easy – but it works wonders Brenda Powell’s great-grandparents started Garland Nursery in Corvallis, Oregon, 84 years ago. The retail nursery, which sits on six peaceful acres in the country, has passed down through four generations and is now owned by Powell and her siblings, Lee Powell and […]
Now hiring — hopefully
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The lingering pandemic finds nurseries getting creative to fill vacancies Jonathan Pedersen, chief executive officer (CEO) and president at Monrovia Nursery Co. (Azusa, California), has watched as the labor market in the nursery industry has changed over the years. But this summer, with the global pandemic still overshadowing everyday life, vaccine mandates throwing in wrenches […]
Keep on trucking
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The booming nursery industry has put big demands on the shipping sector About a year ago, Gary “Bert” Bertelson was lamenting a lost summer. Before last year, Bertelson, head of nursery over-the-road sales for Wilsonville shipping broker Integrity Logistics, would take a month off every summer during the seasonal slowdown of the nursery shipping business. […]
Springing forward
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COVID-19 has meant two banner years for nurseries, but the future’s a little foggy Over the decades, Grace Dinsdale’s Blooming Nursery has enjoyed a fairly steady path of gradual growth. The past few years, the Cornelius-based wholesale nursery has seen solid sales increases, often between 5% and 10% each year. For Dinsdale, who founded Blooming […]
Hired help
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What it takes for nurseries to find the workforce talent they need Working in the nursery industry is not easy. Laborers in the fields endure harsh weather conditions and strenuous work that can test their physical endurance. Drivers spend long hours on the road away from their families. Growers and production staff have to constantly […]
Feeling the heat
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Greater efficiency in greenhouses can reap big rewards Jay Cushman has been in the nursery and horticulture industry for a long time. Not only did he graduate from Oregon State University with a degree in ornamental horticulture and spend more than 15 years with companies such as Sun Gro Horticulture and McConkey Company, but he’s […]
Nursery Guide LIVE clicks into place
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OAN’s first virtual show connected the industry in a new way in March Zen Landis, the Oregon Association of Nurseries’ events and education manager, knows what it’s like to prepare for and help run a big and important professional association event like OAN’s annual Farwest Show. You prepare for months, deal with logistics and coordination, […]
Virtual is the new reality – for now
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The nursery industry’s power trade shows go virtual in the age of COVID-19 Vanessa Finney can say something about the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS), one of the industry’s largest annual shows, that just about no one else can. She grew up with it. Literally. Finney’s father, Carville Akehurst, was the first executive vice president of […]
Trade shows in the time of COVID
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The Baltimore and Minnesota shows plan virtual offerings for January Since 1981, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show has been held every year at the Baltimore Convention Center. One of the industry’s largest shows, it usually draws close to 12,000 attendees and nearly 1,000 exhibitors to about 300,000 square feet of convention center space. MANTS would […]
Plants on the move: Freight with uncertainty
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COVID-19 threw nursery shipping for a loop, but things settled and stayed strong Gary “Bert” Bertleson used to have it pretty good in the summer. The head of nursery over-the-road sales for Integrity Logistics, a freight shipping and trucking broker in Wilsonville, Bertleson would regularly take an entire month off in the summer. He was […]
