August 21, 2015
CapitalPress.com
15
Youngblood Nursery: 25 years of the unusual
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
SALEM — Youngblood
Nursery brings unusual plants
to the public by finding, prop-
agating and wholesaling them
to independent retail garden
centers along the West Coast
and beyond.
The all-container nurs-
ery, opened in 1990 by Don
and Jeanne Youngblood on
two acres of the family’s
142-acre farm near Salem’s
Wheatland Ferry, now en-
compasses 40 acres. The
family’s passion for unusu-
al plants caught on and the
nursery soon became the
farm’s mainstay, now sell-
ing 300,000-320,000 4-inch
to 15-gallon pots a year and
offering about 400 varieties.
It employs 35-40 full-time
people year round.
Display and trial gardens
around the office include rari-
ties from around the globe.
Among them is Chilean
native Azara microphylla, an
evergreen shrub with winter
blooms that exude a potent
white chocolate fragrance.
Rare Oregon native Chamae-
cyparis lawsoniana, “Wissel’s
Saguaro,” is one of their most
popular shrubs.
“It’s tall and upright and
puts out these funky arms
like a saguaro cactus,” sales
associate Chris Steinke said.
Ceanothus, or California li-
lac, is also a big seller, as is
the zig-zag-branched Camel-
lia japonica “Unryu.” Young-
blood’s specialty is Daphne;
the nursery carries about two
dozen varieties that include
some dramatic departures
from the norm.
“The Pacific Northwest is
full of nice plant geeks who
travel the world and bring
back these nice things,” Stein-
ke said. “Once they’ve estab-
lished that they will work for
our climate we go out and see
what they’ve got.
“We don’t do a whole lot
of research; we just go out
and say, ‘That’s cool, let’s see
if we can grow it; let’s see if
we can sell it,’” Steinke said.
“That’s what’s nice about
working for a family nursery;
we’re a good-sized nursery
but it’s easy to change and add
things.”
Tiny Treasures is a new-
er line of younger and dwarf
plants in 4-inch pots for a
more finished product. Such
ideas often spring from net-
working with fellow growers.
“The nursery industry’s
always been pretty much an
open book,” Steinke said.
“You can go to your neigh-
bor/competitor and get good
sound advice and they’re hap-
py to give it. We have the Or-
egon Association of Nurseries
that does a lot of work for
the industry, putting on trade
shows and seminars; getting
the wholesalers connected
with the retailers. They’ll go
to Capitol Hill to push things
through.”
Though the nursery likes
to try out new technology,
some of its biggest time- and
labor-savers come from those
custom inventions that tend to
happen on a family farm.
“We built a conveyor-fed
potting machine 6 years ago
that works great,” Steinke
said. “Don Youngblood de-
veloped a tractor-driven poly
roller so you don’t have to re-
move all the greenhouse cov-
erings by hand.” They also
came up with a custom-built
watering boom; a drive-under
system so workers don’t even
need to get out of their vehi-
cle.
Youngblood’s plants are
getting easier to find on the
retail market.
“If you want the most bi-
zarre, biggest selection you
might go to Portland Nurs-
ery, or for really off-the-wall
stuff Cistus Nursery is super
cool,” Weeks said, “but there
are little ‘boutique-y’ places
everywhere in Portland these
days; small corner nurseries
that carry some pretty unique
plants.”
Chris Steinke
shows off a mature
Daphne plant in
the display garden
at Youngblood
Nursery. The
nursery sells about
two dozen Daphne
varieties among
its many unusual
offerings.
Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
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