With a record $1.37 billion worth of sales in 2022, Oregon’s nursery industry continues to grow. And if you want to know why, you can ask the families that are driving the growth.
Ask Jan, Cindy and Jason Hupp, who run Drakes Crossing Nursery in the Cascade Range foothills, founded 1967. They’ve made huge investments in the future, leveling new production space to grow seedlings for reforestation.
Ask Nathan and Angie Holmlund, the siblings who are taking John Holmlund Nursery, founded in 1968 with Mount Hood as the backdrop, into the next generation with field-grown and containerized material for nationwide markets. They are extending the legacy of what their father, John, started 55 years ago.
Ask Alfredo and Maria Fernandez, owners of AF Nursery, founded in the Willamette Valley in 2010. Starting from nothing, they’ve built a fast-growing operation that produces 100,000 trees, shrubs and liners annually.
Or ask Tom and Laura Dufala, owners of Bentwood Tree Farm, a specialty grower of cloud-sculpted pines and other handcrafted landscape material for Japanese-style gardens, founded 2011. They’ve been able to pursue their passion for natural beauty.
The nursery and greenhouse industry continues to be Oregon’s top agricultural powerhouse. Oregon continues to produce more conifers, more shade trees, more flowering trees and more Christmas trees than any other state in the nation. It’s also among the top growers of woody shrubs, while offering a wide assortment of annuals, perennials, houseplants, and other material as well.
That material makes the world better, with 75% of it going to other states.
Turn the page. Meet the passionate people behind four of Oregon’s finest wholesale nurseries. Learn how they have found opportunity and are pursuing their dreams.
They’ll give you a sense of why Oregon is Nursery Country.
Also in this issue:
COLUMNS
- President’s Message: Our industry embodies spirit of Oregon pioneers. By Amanda Staehely.
- Director’s Desk: The people must step up in 2024. By Jeff Stone.
- What I’m Hearing: Olive trees are migrating north. By Mike Darcy.
Growing Knowledge, an ongoing series provided by Oregon State University in collaboration with the USDA and in partnership with OAN.
- Program equips growers with knowledge to prevent and diagnose nursery crop diseases: Our mission is to provide nurseries and their teams with the information and resources they need to protect and improve plant health. By Luisa Santamaria
Please send your comments on the issue to editor Curt Kipp at ckipp@oan.org.
