Digger magazine

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Why we connect

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Oregon is a diverse place with mountains and coastline, high deserts and fertile valleys. The nurseries that dot the Oregon map are just as diverse. Liner production, reforestation, cut flowers, Christmas trees, retail, and large specimen growers are just some of the categories represented, and our people are just as diverse as our products. Oregonians […]

Slowing down to take stock

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The days are shorter, colder and wetter, which means it’s beginning to look a lot like the winter season around the nursery.  This time around the holiday season is a slower time of year. The greenhouses are all buttoned up for winter. The pipes are drained and winterized. We have the time to slow down […]

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 […]

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 […]

OAN goes to Washington, D.C.

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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 […]

Knowing our customers

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Last fall, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Bridget Behe, a professor of horticulture at Michigan State University. She was giving a presentation on her research into the marketing of edible and ornamental horticultural crops, which is her area of expertise. If you are not familiar with Dr. Behe’s podcast, “Connect 2 Consumer,” I […]