Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

A word of thanks

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“Thank you.” These two words are so often underused, but I have chosen to start out this month’s column by using them for a specific reason. It has been such an honor to serve as president of the Oregon Association of Nurseries for the past year. Thank you to all of the staff members and […]

SAIF announces dividends for Oregon employers

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The board overseeing SAIF, the state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance company, has approved two dividends that policyholders will receive for 2019. One is a $120 million primary dividend to be paid to policyholders based on their premium. The other is a $40 million safety performance dividend to be paid based on each policyholder’s safety results. This is […]

Retailers’ Choice Awards™ at Farwest 2019

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Retailers’ Choice Awards™ at Farwest 2019 were presented to thirteen exhibiting firms for awards during a presentation on the Farwest Solutions Center. The Garden Center Group’s Danny Summers and Christina Salwitz lead the retailer search. Products were selected specifically for garden retailers in search of the best new products both live goods and hard goods […]

OSU and USDA Nursery Working Group

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There are many programs at Oregon State University (OSU) and the USDA-ARS- Horticulture Crops Research Laboratory that focus on nursery, greenhouse, landscape and related crops. Here are some of the people and their programs that impact the ornamental industry of Oregon. Neil Bell evaluates landscape plants for drought tolerance and cold hardiness in western Oregon. […]

Beauty from the ground up

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These bulbs offer great color and fragrance with disease resistance, and some are native to boot When gardeners, landscapers and restoration managers look to buy bulbs, they’re finding exceptional and versatile material that meets their design goals and gardening aspirations. Breeders and growers are providing an outstanding selection of commercial bulbs, including tulips, daffodils, corms, […]

The right information in the right place

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My coworkers and I sometimes joke about our clients’ predilections for stuffing as much information as possible into an ad. To illustrate this, our designers created a presentation called “Applesauce.” It starts with an Apple Watch ad — simple and clear, with a single image and very little text. “Applesauce” then imagines what would happen […]

Labor at a crisis point

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Marking the transition from summer to fall, Americans celebrate Labor Day with parades, picnics, barbecues and festivals. For many, including the Stone family, the day signals that children will head back to school. My oldest daughter will enter her junior year at Western Oregon University and my youngest will kick off her senior year at […]

Building your team

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September is one of my favorite months of the year. On the nursery, we are starting to push plants into dormancy to get them ready for the coming winter. We may work tirelessly all summer to help the plants size up. This is also when they set flower buds for the next spring. But the […]

Farwest Show sees a jump in attendance

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The official numbers are in, and the 2019 Farwest Show, held August 21–23 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, saw an increase in attendance over the prior year, according to figures from show producers the Oregon Association of Nurseries. As always, Farwest brought together different sectors of the green industry, giving everyone many chances […]