Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

Vertical gardening supplies food for Manhattan eatery

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This is really cool: Bell, Book and Candle, a restaurant in Manhattan, grows all of its own vegetables and herbs under the personal supervision of owner and chef John Mooney. Each daily menu is crafted based on what’s fresh and ripe that morning. But that’s not all. Mooney grows the produce on the rooftop of […]

Will edible plants stay hot at retail nurseries?

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The start of the Great Recession in 2007 brought on a trend that garden centers hadn’t seen in years — edible gardening. Seeds, vegetable starts and fruit trees became big sellers, while ornamentals cooled off. Four years later, the trend is still going, but will it continue? According to Trey Pitsenberger of the Golden Gecko Garden […]

Roses for 9-11

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The first of three planned “Remember Me” Rose Gardens may be located 2,642 miles away near Stoystown, Penn., but the memorial for the victims and survivors of the 9-11 attacks has major connections to the state of Oregon. Sue Casey, a law librarian with the Portland, Ore. law firm of Ball Janik LLP, came up […]

Not quite contrite

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Against our better judgment, we are going to post about this Madonna vs. hydrangeas thing (“I absolutely loathe hydrangeas,” says Madge) one more time. It just gets more amusing every day. The latest development? The “True Blue” pop icon has taken to YouTube to respond to the controversy. Although some people consider them to be […]

A remarkable life story

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Most nursery folks and many Northwest gardeners will agree that Tsugawa Nursery in Woodland, Wash. is a retail landmark along Interstate 5 in Southwest Washington. I remember my parents, eager gardeners both, taking special trips to browse the garden center’s deep and balanced stock of plants. If you don’t happen to know the story behind […]

Blogger: Madonna may have a point

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The other day we posted about Madonna’s comment — now infamous to many in the hort industry — that she “loathes hydrangeas.” Most anyone can agree it wasn’t a nice thing for her to say about a gift from a fan. However, she may have had a point — at least, according to horticulturalist Tim Wood. On […]

Portrait of a plant patent

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If you have never seen a plant patent application, there’s a lot of detail involved. This application from Terra Nova Nurseries was for a new cultivar of Echinacea, specifically Echinacea spp. ‘TNGD’ which is described in painstaking detail. The patent application was submitted May 11, 2010 and granted Tuesday (Sept. 6), so the process took […]

Nursery receives grant to study sandbed fertigation

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Oregon Small Trees Nursery recently was chosen to receive a Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant. The nursery, based in Wilsonville, Ore., will use its grant funds to evaluate a little-used, but highly efficient, growing practice involving sandbeds. “The grant allows us to introduce new practices to further minimize our environmental footprint,” Oregon […]