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 […]
Standing up for the industry
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On Valentine’s Day, our group of about 15 OAN members and professional government relations staff visited the Oregon State Capitol. We split up into three groups of five to have meetings and meaningful conversations with our state senators and representatives in their offices. The annual OAN Advocacy Day has been one of our most effective […]
Couldn’t stand the weather
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Legendary Texas bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan famously sang that he “Couldn’t Stand the Weather.” Here in Oregon, enduring the weather is one thing. As I suspect they do in Texas, we’re just trying to figure out what’s going on from one moment to the next. While the rest of the United States was suffering under […]
Don’t fall into the trap of history repeating
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The holidays and the grueling trade show season are over. Sports are in a lull. The days of cold, wet and dark are getting tiresome. We are all waiting on better weather — or at least seeing the sun. Depending on your segment within the nursery industry, you have either completed your digging for the […]
We are Oregon grown
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If you have not visited Oregon to experience what is grown here, you need to. This issue of Digger is the Nursery Country issue, featuring the state’s quality plants and the growers who produce them. It’s a good read, filled with good information. However, there is no substitute for driving the roads, walking the farms, […]
Winter is coming
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This might sound like a plug for Game of Thrones — after all, the Season Eight premiere isn’t that far away! But seriously, winter isn’t just coming, as they say. It’s here. Preparations must be undertaken. From a grower’s standpoint, we are almost done getting the plants ready to survive the winter. Some growers, meanwhile, […]
Support is critical
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My name is Mike Hiller, I work at Kraemer’s Nursery in Mt. Angel, Oregon, and I am proud to be your new OAN president. But how did I find myself in this position? Several years ago, Mike Coleman approached me to consider joining the Executive Committee of the OAN Board of Directors. I asked him […]
Climbing skyward
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Wow. I know it’s a cliché, but I honestly can’t believe how fast time has flown over the last year. It seems like it was just a month ago and I was scrambling to put together my very first Digger column. Funny thing is, they haven’t gotten any easier — especially after hearing people say […]
A favorite ‘holiday’
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Growing up in a typical American household, we had all the usual holidays, such as New Year’s Day, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We celebrated birthdays too, just like many of the rest. But growing up in an Oregon nursery family, there was one more “holiday” — the Farwest Show. As far back as […]
The ‘offseason’
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Sometimes I feel that people outside the nursery industry think we only really work during our harvest season, which for most of us is in the spring. The prevailing thought among my non-industry friends seems to be that after we ship the present crop and plant next season’s crop, we simply kick back and wait. […]
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