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CapitalPress.com
August 19, 2016
August 19, 2016
CapitalPress.com
Little Prince adds creative touches
By JANAE SARGENT
Capital Press
Little Prince of Oregon
nursery strives to stand out in
the industry.
Whether it’s sporting
beards made out of succulents
at the 2015 Oregon Farwest
Show, developing different
advertising strategies for each
line of plants or painting a
giant frog on the side of its
delivery trucks, owner Ketch
de Kanter and his managers
encourage creativity.
Little Prince is a wholesale
nursery in Aurora, Ore., that
markets perennials, ground
covers, ornamental grasses,
ferns, native plants and succu-
lents to landscapers and gar-
den centers.
Kanter began the nursery
in 1997 with no background
Janae Sargent/Capital Press
Mark Leichty, director of business development, explains the high
attention to detail he and the staff pay to plants at Little Prince
of Oregon Nursery. Employees hand-water each plant every day
instead of relying on automation so they can keep their eyes on
how the plants are doing.
in horticulture. Since then, it
has grown from 5 to 25 acres
and has 160,000 square feet of
greenhouse space.
Mark Leichty, director of
business development, said
branding and product recog-
nition have been huge factors
in the nursery’s success and
stability.
The nursery has 12 trade-
marked groupings of plants
that the owner and managers
brainstormed to be catchy and
recognizable. They include
such items as “Blades of Glo-
ry,” which refers to grasses
that provide movement and
texture.
When the nursery prepares
to introduce a new product, the
owner and managers gather for
a week to brainstorm catchy
names for it.
“If you could be a ly on
the wall listening to us come
up with new brand names, you
would be impressed,” Leichty
said. “We want people to be
able to recognize us.”
The name and logo for the
nursery follow Kanter’s theme
of different and recognizable.
Leichty said the name “Lit-
tle Prince of Oregon” comes
from the children’s book “The
Little Prince” that Kanter’s fa-
ther used to read to him as a
bedtime story. His father used
to call him “the Little Prince of
Oregon.
The nursery’s logo is a giant
frog with a crown on its head.
The nursery puts the frog logo
on all of the plants, tags, publi-
cations and delivery trucks.
Leichty said his favorite
part about driving the delivery
trucks is seeing the reactions
and smiles from other drivers
on the highway when they see
the giant cartoon frog.
Beyond brand recognition,
Leichty said the nursery’s at-
tention to detail has played a
big role in bringing repeat cus-
tomers back to the nursery.
While Leichty is looking
at making the nursery more
automated, he said it will con-
tinue to have the grounds crew
hand-water each of the plants.
“We want to have eyes on
every crop every day,” Leichty
said.
Leichty will design the Lit-
tle Prince of Oregon booth at
the Oregon Farwest Show and
said he is looking forward to
pushing outside of box more
than he did last year.
In 2015, Leichty and Mi-
chael Hicks, the head grower,
sported long beards made out
of succulents and moss. The
booth won the “Most Outside
the Box” award at the show.
Leichty is planning to take
it farther this year with an ’80s
rock band theme complete with
Van Halen-style moss wigs,
colored lights and drums and
guitars as planters.
9
Community college has plans to grow
By JANAE SARGENT
Capital Press
Janae Sargent/Capital Press
Holly Nelson, dean of agricultural sciences, and Andrew Hone, vice
president of governance and administration, try the edible plants
at the Chemeketa Community College Horticulture Department in
Salem, Ore.
The Horticulture Department at
Chemeketa Community College has
plans for a new Agricultural Complex
that administrators hope will help the re-
gion’s nursery industry thrive.
Holly Nelson, dean of agricultural
sciences, said staff and faculty are work-
ing to tailor the program for the current
demands of the horticulture industry and
to better structure the degree for students
who want to transfer to a four-year col-
lege for a bachelor’s degree.
Chemeketa now offers courses in
nursery and greenhouse management and
a two-year associate degree in horticul-
ture.
“We feel we haven’t tapped in very
well to the full potential of this program,”
said Andrew Hone, Chemeketa vice pres-
ident of governance and administration.
The program enrollment luctuates
between 60 and 100 students, depending
on the season and courses offered.
The biggest part of the program’s
growth plan is the proposed Agricultural
Complex.
The proposal includes classrooms, or-
ganic garden areas, crop areas, nursery
hoop houses, specialty garden areas and
possibly an amphitheater. It will also in-
clude the existing community partnership
food farm.
Greg Harris, Chemeketa’s public in-
formation oficer, said the community col-
lege has submitted the plan to the state for
funding.
He said the project is high on the prior-
ity list for the state but Chemeketa won’t
get a decision until the legislative session
concludes in spring of 2017.
The irst phase of the plan to grow the
agriculture department will be the addition
of a Woody Ornamental Laboratory. The
department was awarded a $10,000 grant
from the J. Frank Schmidt Family Charita-
ble Foundation to build the lab. Chemeke-
ta matched the donation for the lab, which
Nelson anticipates will be done this fall.
The laboratory will be on the Salem
campus and dedicated to demonstrations
about various woody ornamental grow
systems such as pot-in-pot, baled and bur-
lapped and ield grown.
The department has also begun work-
ing closely with Oregon State University
to develop a strong transfer degree in hor-
ticulture.
Harris said students are split evenly be-
tween those wanting a inished degree or
certiicate to go to work and those looking
to transfer to a four-year college.
Nelson said OSU has been involved
in designing courses that create a more
seamless pathway to transfer.
Industry advisory committees helped
spark another educational innovation. The
college is designing ive certiicates for
students who want education in a speciic
area without pursuing an associate degree.
Joleen Schilling, horticulture faculty
member, said Chemeketa will offer certif-
icates focused on landscape design, land-
scape maintenance, sustainable practices,
small farms and integrated pest manage-
ment.