Columns

Building your team

By Mike Hiller — Posted September 4, 2019

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 […]

Brewing up some lessons in marketing

By Ian Doescher — Posted July 26, 2019

One of the most popular events at the Farwest Show is the annual Pub Crawl. So in this, the Farwest issue, let’s talk about — you guessed it — beer. Before we go on, I must confess that for a Portland native and current resident, I fail my city in two major ways: I don’t […]

Where gardeners turn for answers

By Mike Darcy — Posted July 26, 2019

Garden centers typically can offer their customers several advantages that big box stores can’t fully duplicate. One of these is the ability to provide customers with valid, localized information about the challenges they face. When I ask my neighbors, friends and other gardeners where they would go if they had a question about a problem […]

Where plants, growth and networking thrive

By Jeff Stone — Posted July 26, 2019

Oregon’s Willamette Valley is a treasure trove of rich and vibrant soil, clean water and a climate that is perfect for growing nursery stock. Growers of all sizes have brought the Oregon nursery and greenhouse industry from mostly a local enterprise to national and even global prominence. That’s not bad for an industry that arrived […]

Welcome to Farwest

By Mike Hiller — Posted July 26, 2019

Welcome to our Farwest Edition of Digger magazine. The Farwest Show is a time for our members to showcase what is new and display all of the high-quality plant material from the Northwest. I hope you have already made your plans to attend, but if not, I hope you will consider coming to see the […]

Lessons from a rebrand

By Ian Doescher — Posted June 24, 2019

Tillamook Creamery — and the cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and butter it produces — is an Oregon Coast institution with international reach. Its products are available around the globe. I’m passionate about Tillamook cheese. It’s the only cheese I will buy, and their ice cream is a treat. Recently, in celebration of their 110th anniversary, […]

The technology race

By Jeff Stone — Posted June 24, 2019

On July 20, the nation will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Apollo 11, led by Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, set in motion a technology era with their successful mission in 1969. Less than eight years earlier, President John F. Kennedy had […]

OAN goes to Washington, D.C.

By Mike Hiller — Posted June 24, 2019

I traveled to Washington, D.C. along with our OAN executive director, Jeff Stone, and the chairwoman of our Government Relations Committee, Leigh Geschwill of F & B Farms & Nursery. We were there to represent the Oregon Association of Nurseries, and to lobby for the needs and priorities of Oregon’s nursery industry. This was my […]

Elections have consequences

By Jeff Stone — Posted May 24, 2019

I am privileged and honored to serve an Oregon nursery industry that is hardworking, honest and committed to excellence. Our association sets an example for others around the country on how to approach turbulent issues, such as the environment, education and workforce development. We stake out moderate views on taxation and employer regulations. We are […]

Current trends at the garden center

By Mike Darcy — Posted May 24, 2019

It should come as no surprise to those who know me, or read this column, that I like to visit garden centers! Just walking around to look at the plants and talk with some of the personnel — whether they are salespeople, managers, owners, or customers — it is a very enjoyable time. It is […]