Nothing about the spring 2020 garden season has been ordinary. From March onward, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many facets of the garden industry in ways no one could have predicted. Six months ago, if you had described a scene where shoppers and workers were wearing masks and standing six feet apart, no one would […]
May 2020: Coping with COVID-19
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The COVID-19 pandemic has upended business-to-business relationships and the entire retail marketplace for the green industry. From navigating social distancing requirements on the worksite to offering services to quarantined customers, nurseries and greenhouses explain how they are doing their best in this issue. Plus, researchers describe how mycorrhizae amendments add to plant efficiency, and scientists […]
Nurseries problem solve a pandemic
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Ben Rough (pronounced “row,” rhymes with “now”) will never forget his first day of work at J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. nursery in Boring, Oregon. The newly hired CEO of the company started on March 23 — the same day that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a mandatory stay-in-place order for Oregonians in response […]
Rationality is our friend
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The COVID-19 virus will most certainly impact families, friends and businesses. It is already causing tremendous disruption in the economy, not to mention knocking our daily lives off auto-pilot. In mid-March, I communicated with our membership the need to embrace that fear is not our friend — rationality is. We provided reliable resources people can […]