Anchored by multigenerational farming families, some dating as far back as the 1850s, Oregon’s nursery industry is deeply rooted in the past.
Want to know more? Listen to Cindy Lou Evans Pease spin tales about her great-great grandfather, Christian Frederick Vonderahe, who in 1857 settled on land that is known today as Evans Farms LLC.
Ask Nancy Richards and Anne Marie Boyd, the mother-daughter team at Motz & Son Nursery that grows trees on land that’s been in their family for 101 years.
Or perhaps chat with David Obersinner, who founded Obersinner Nursery Inc. 42 years ago, when he was in his 20s, with help from his parents, Alan and Margaret.
But even with a glorious past, no nursery survives without meeting the future head on and seizing its opportunities. Evans, Motz and Obersinner are all doing this in their own way.
Meanwhile, North American Plants Inc. has seen explosive growth thanks to the miracle of tissue culture propagation. This technology enables propagators to generate a million plants in a year from a single parent plant. This allows growers to roll out the newest plant introductions with blazing speed.
Nurseries are Oregon’s #1 agricultural crop. Click the links and learn more about just a few of Oregon’s wonderful nurseries and the people behind them.
Also in this issue:
COLUMNS
- President’s Message: The collaborative spirit of Oregon. By Todd Nelson.
- Director’s Desk: A meaningful foundation. By Jeff Stone.
- What I’m Hearing: The importance of being customer oriented. By Mike Darcy.
Growing Knowledge, an ongoing series provided by Oregon State University in collaboration with the USDA and in partnership with OAN.
- A carbon balancing act: What effects do mowing, fertilization and irrigation have on carbon sink and sequestration in turfgrass ecosystems? By Wrennie Wang, Claire Phillips, Clint Mattox and Alec Kowalewski.
Please send your comments on the issue to editor Curt Kipp at [email protected].
