10 CapitalPress.com
August 21, 2015
Operations remain all in the family
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
ELKTON, Ore. — When
Howard Carnes died in 1996,
his three grown grandchildren
were faced with deciding what
to do with the family ranch
along the Umpqua River.
Lisa Davis doesn’t remem-
ber exactly how the decision
was made, but the siblings con-
cluded, with the blessing of their
grandmother, Frances Carnes, to
grow trees and shrubs on the fer-
tile bottomland.
“I guess the nursery busi-
ness at that time was boom-
ing so somehow we decided
to grow our own plants and
trees,” said Davis, who was
joined in the decision-making
by her older brother, Lincoln
Russell, and her twin sister,
Lynette Sky.
The result was the plant-
ing of seedlings in 1997 and
the development of BR Nurs-
ery at the Bend in the River
Ranch. A few years later after
the seedlings had grown into
young trees, the nursery need-
ed a retail outlet. A partnership
was formed with Mike Cun-
ningham of Drain, who had
opened a landscape business
on the south side of Sutherlin,
Ore. One year later in 2001,
the brother and his sisters pur-
chased that business and at
about the same time bought a
water garden business.
Sutherlin
WaterGarden
& Nursery was opened. The
business sells trees and shrubs
grown at BR, landscaping ma-
terials and water garden and
pond products, including koi
fish.
“We love the business,”
said Russell who manages the
Sutherlin business with help
from his wife, Elena. “The
family has fun going to work
together, working together,
getting everything figured
out. We have a meeting in the
morning to discuss what we
want to do. Everybody has
molded into their own roles,
who does what. It’s working.”
Lisa Davis manages BR
Nursery and is helped by sis-
ter Lynette, and their cousin
Bryce Carnes. The two busi-
nesses have no other employ-
ees other than the five family
members.
“Business-wise we do pret-
ty well,” Davis said. “When
we do have disagreements,
we’re all pretty-level headed
about it.”
Frances Carnes died in
2001. Davis said her grand-
mother liked the direction the
ranch had taken in establishing
a nursery.
The sibling partners ad-
mitted the learning curve was
steep in the early going be-
cause they had no experience
growing trees. Davis said
during the first winter they
thought all their first plantings
had died because there were
no leaves. But with spring and
warmer weather, leaves grew
and so did the knowledge of
the planters.
After more years of clear-
ing Scotch broom and black-
berries and 17 years after
the first planting, Davis said
the BR Nursery has close to
10,000 plants and shrubs in the
ground or in pots, representing
300 to 350 species. The nurs-
ery also has four hoop houses
and a greenhouse.
“We have a lot of unusual
stuff growing here that you
won’t find anywhere else,”
Davis said. “If you’re looking
for something unique, I have
it.”
After a few years of growth,
the trees and shrubs are potted
and taken to Sutherlin Water
Garden & Nursery to sell.
The partners said if they
had paid for their plant inven-
tory, their businesses would
not have survived the past
recession because business
dropped about 60 percent over
several years. They had pre-
viously sold products to eight
nurseries on the Oregon Coast,
BR Nursery
and Sutherlin
WaterGarden and
Nursery
Owners: Lincoln Russell and
sisters Lisa Davis and Lynette
Sky.
Where: Elkton and Sutherlin,
Ore.
Information: 541-459-5169
but six of those are no longer
in business. The decline in
construction during the reces-
sion years also hurt sales.
Davis said sales stablized
in 2011 and 2012, and there’s
been an uptick in business
the past couple of years, both
with residential customers and
contractors. By growing their
own trees, family members
believe they can “outsize and
outprice” competitors.
“People have been coming
back,” Russell said. “People
who come in here don’t want
to wait for a tree to grow. They
want one that’s already got
some size.”
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