The 2022 spring garden season in the Pacific Northwest is probably not going to go down in the annals of history as a record sales year for local garden centers. After two robust years, the sales did come on the scene, but it was as if the air was let out of the balloon. Garden […]
Trees that stand above
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This issue of Digger is devoted to trees,and this made me reflect on some of the many benefits they provide for us. Perhaps Henry David Thoreau summed my reflections best in his famous words: “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.” Trees certainly do contribute much to our […]
Emerging with confidence
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As we enter year three with COVID-19 and its variants raging around us, it appears that most garden centers have made the necessary adaptations to stay open. Initially there was much confusion, and rightly so because we have never been in a situation like this. Many garden centers were temporarily closed to make the necessary […]
An endless source of joy
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Maurice Horn and Mike Smith founded Joy Creek Nursery in 1992 with a simple motto: “We are creating the nursery we always wanted.” Sadly, after almost 30 years, it was announced in October that, Joy Creek Nursery would close on November 7, 2021. Much has changed since 1992 when they opened a specialty nursery in […]
Let’s address a dry topic
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In the August issue of Digger, I discussed some of the effects of the very dry summer season, not only in the Pacific Northwest, but in much of the western United States. Many readers and other gardeners commented about the article. As a result, I looked more closely at the surrounding neighborhood, as well as […]
In the heat of the garden
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It is definitely time for a reprieve from the events of the past year and a half. That’s true for garden centers, customers, the plants they buy and grow, and the plants in our gardens. We are living through a pandemic; we suffered devastating forest fires with smoke conditions that were hazardous to our health; […]
Let’s keep them growing
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I have written several columns on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on garden centers and how they have responded to it. These last two years have been like no other in recent history —not just for garden centers, but every citizen. In many cases, our lives have been adjusted for us and we have had to […]
Positive indications for 2021
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One year ago, on March 6, 2020, Plant Nerd Night was held for the 19th consecutive year with more than 500 attendees. Little did we know that the following week COVID-19 restrictions would begin, and Plant Nerd Night suddenly had the dubious distinction of being the last large in-person consumer gardening event that year. Gone […]
A gardener’s optimism has no limits
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Resilient is a good word to use to describe Diana and Colby Lamb. Resilience is defined as spirit, hardiness, toughness, strength, buoyancy, and resistance. On September 8 at 12:15 a.m., there was a banging on the door of their Gates, Oregon house. It was a Marion County sheriff’s deputy telling them that there had been […]
COVID-19 lessons from plant societies
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In this unprecedented period of a COVID-19 pandemic, several forest fires with lingering air pollution, and a very dry summer that has stressed all our plants, garden centers have also had to make many adjustments to retain their current customer base. On top of that, they also need to attract new customers. Some garden centers […]