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You are here: Home / Archives for Columns / Mike Darcy

An endless source of joy

By Mike Darcy — Posted November 28, 2021

Maurice Horn and Mike Smith founded Joy Creek Nursery in 1992 with a simple motto: “We are creating the nursery we always wanted.” Sadly, after almost 30 years, it was announced in October that, Joy Creek Nursery would close on November 7, 2021. Much has changed since 1992 when they opened a specialty nursery in […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: Digger, Digger magazine, Mike Darcy, OAN, OAN Members, Retail Nurseries

Let’s address a dry topic

By Mike Darcy — Posted September 22, 2021

In the August issue of Digger, I discussed some of the effects of the very dry summer season, not only in the Pacific Northwest, but in much of the western United States. Many readers and other gardeners commented about the article. As a result, I looked more closely at the surrounding neighborhood, as well as […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: Climate Change, Digger, Digger magazine, Mike Darcy, Retail Nurseries

In the heat of the garden

By Mike Darcy — Posted July 29, 2021

It is definitely time for a reprieve from the events of the past year and a half. That’s true for garden centers, customers, the plants they buy and grow, and the plants in our gardens. We are living through a pandemic; we suffered devastating forest fires with smoke conditions that were hazardous to our health; […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: Digger, Digger magazine, Home gardening, Mike Darcy, Retail Nurseries

Let’s keep them growing

By Mike Darcy — Posted May 27, 2021

I have written several columns on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on garden centers and how they have responded to it. These last two years have been like no other in recent history —not just for garden centers, but every citizen. In many cases, our lives have been adjusted for us and we have had to […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: Digger, Digger magazine, Home gardening, Mike Darcy, Retail Nurseries

Positive indications for 2021

By Mike Darcy — Posted March 23, 2021

One year ago, on March 6, 2020, Plant Nerd Night was held for the 19th consecutive year with more than 500 attendees. Little did we know that the following week COVID-19 restrictions would begin, and Plant Nerd Night suddenly had the dubious distinction of being the last large in-person consumer gardening event that year. Gone […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: Digger, Digger magazine, Mike Darcy, Retail Nurseries

COVID-19 year two

By Mike Darcy — Posted January 25, 2021

The year 2020 probably instigated more changes in the physical way in which a garden center operates than any other year in history. Not only were there devasting forest fires resulting in hazardous air quality conditions and causing some garden centers to close, but COVID-19 also arrived. I cannot ever recall anything disrupting the workplace […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: Digger, Digger magazine, Retail Nurseries

A gardener’s optimism has no limits

By Mike Darcy — Posted November 24, 2020

Resilient is a good word to use to describe Diana and Colby Lamb. Resilience is defined as spirit, hardiness, toughness, strength, buoyancy, and resistance. On September 8 at 12:15 a.m., there was a banging on the door of their Gates, Oregon house. It was a Marion County sheriff’s deputy telling them that there had been […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: Digger, Digger magazine, garden clubs, Mike Darcy

COVID-19 lessons from plant societies

By Mike Darcy — Posted September 29, 2020

In this unprecedented period of a COVID-19 pandemic, several forest fires with lingering air pollution, and a very dry summer that has stressed all our plants, garden centers have also had to make many adjustments to retain their current customer base. On top of that, they also need to attract new customers. Some garden centers […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: coronavirus, Digger, Digger magazine, Mike Darcy, Plants

Gardening interest enters full bloom

By Mike Darcy — Posted July 29, 2020

In my last column (June 2020), I wrote about some of the many changes that garden centers have had to make during the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is that it appears that most garden centers managed to adapt to these new requirements. Since the COVID-19 situation is not abating, an appropriate follow-up would be […]

Filed Under: Columns, Mike Darcy Tagged With: Digger, Digger magazine, Mike Darcy, Retail Nurseries

Seeding the need to garden

By Mike Darcy — Posted May 26, 2020

Nothing about the spring 2020 garden season has been ordinary. From March onward, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many facets of the garden industry in ways no one could have predicted. Six months ago, if you had described a scene where shoppers and workers were wearing masks and standing six feet apart, no one would […]

Filed Under: Columns, Coronavirus, Mike Darcy Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID19, Digger, Digger magazine, Mike Darcy, Retail Nurseries

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NURSERY NEWS

In Memoriam: Melvin John Steffenson

New USDA Census of Hort arriving in mailboxes this month

Oregon Association of Nurseries honors the industry’s best at 2024 Convention

Eason Horticultural Resources is now employee-owned

Oregon’s nursery licensing program aims to keep the entire industry healthy

Building trust is key to establishing clientele base for new nurseries

Five owners share their experiences on what it takes to start a nursery businesses

Bailey hires new CFO and chief HR officer

More Nursery News

From the pages of Digger

May 2025: Sustainability Issue

April 2025: The Tree Issue

March 2025: The Perennial Issue

February 2025: The Greenhouse Issue

January 2025: The Retail Issue

More issues of Digger

Pests and Diseases

Prioritizing nursery pest challenges

New tools in the battle against thrips

Aiming for precision in pest control

Oregon’s nursery licensing program aims to keep the entire industry healthy

$250,000 shifted to P. austrocedri research

More articles

FARWEST SHOW UPDATES

Sense of excitement prevailed at Farwest as nursery industry ‘Meets the Future’ 

Farwest Show attendees select favorites for the Retailers’ Choice Awards

Starway to Heaven™ Japanese Snowbell wins People’s Choice balloting at Farwest Show New Varieties Showcase

Hopper Bros. wins Best in Show booth award at 2024 Farwest Show   

Starway to Heaven™ Japanese Snowbell wins Judges’ Best in Show at Farwest Show New Varieties Showcase

More Updates from Farwest

The Value of Membership

Meet the leader: Sam Pohlschneider

OAN honors the industry’s best

Oregon Association of Nurseries honors the industry’s best at 2024 Convention

More member stories

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