Columns

Shades of meaning

By Ian Doescher — Posted October 23, 2019

It’s my privilege to work with a team of talented designers. One of them — Rachel Getsinger, Pivot’s senior design lead — takes the lead on many of our logo and branding projects. Recently, she has introduced Color Theory 101 to our clients when we present logo color options. In this month’s article, I’m passing […]

Turning protectors into producers

By Jeff Stone — Posted October 23, 2019

Veteran’s Day is our yearly opportunity to thank all those who have served in our armed forces. OAN members have proudly served our country, and those in my family have done so as well. Originally known as Armistice Day, it is a day dedicated to honoring those who have served in the United States Armed […]

Ready to rise and shine

By Jim Simnitt — Posted October 23, 2019

I was fortunate to grow up on our family nursery in Canby, Oregon. It is where I found a love of plants and the nursery industry, and has brought me to being your president of the Oregon Association of Nurseries (OAN) this year. If we have not met, let me introduce myself. My name is […]

My Farwest Show favorites

By Mike Darcy — Posted September 26, 2019

There are many reasons that I regularly attend the Farwest Show. One is for the social connection to others in the horticulture industry. There is camaraderie among garden people that I rarely see in other organizations, and it is hard to explain until you are part of it. I believe that social interactions are extremely […]

Your success is OAN’s mission

By Jeff Stone — Posted September 26, 2019

I have served as your executive director for more than nine years now and have been a steadfast advocate for the best people I have ever met. If you include my time as your government relations director prior to that, I have seen 14 years of ups and downs in our industry. When Kristin VanHoose […]

A word of thanks

By Mike Hiller — Posted September 26, 2019

“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 […]

The right information in the right place

By Ian Doescher — Posted September 4, 2019

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

By Jeff Stone — Posted September 4, 2019

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

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 […]