14 CapitalPress.com
August 19, 2016
Nursery thrives despite remote location
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
Marlene Godfrey started
Godfrey Nursery in 1981 with
little more than a 50-foot green-
house.
Located outside the small
town of Aumsville in Oregon’s
Willamette Valley, the nursery
is now owned by Godfrey’s
daughter, Jennifer, and her hus-
band, Darren Schad. It operates
on about 3 acres, with an ex-
pansion underway.
Godfrey Nursery produces
annuals, perennials, vegetables,
hanging baskets and containers,
shrubs, trees and a full selection
of hard goods including a gift
shop and yard art by local craft-
ers.
“We’re kind of unique in
what we do here,” Darren said.
“We’re like a wholesale nursery
for retail; we grow almost ev-
erything ourselves. We’re prop-
agating every other week from
December to March, averaging
35,000 cuttings at a time.”
Their biggest trade is in
hanging baskets. They produce
more than 20,000 baskets annu-
ally from the thousands of lats
CopenHaven Farms Nursery
“We’re at the root of the business.”
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Building
Healthy Soils
of annual lowers they put out
every year. The number goes up
every year.
Also on the rise is the call
for vegetable starts.
“The demand is crazy for
vegetables now; a lot of people
have their own little greenhous-
es,” Darren said. “The biggest
pick-up has been among the
younger people.”
The nursery is open daily
March through September. In
response to repeated customer
requests, this year for the irst
time it will be open during
the holidays. During the three
weekends following Thanks-
giving, they’ll sell greenery
baskets, containers and other
gift items.
“That’s kind of how we’ve
driven the nursery for the past
30 years, people asking if we’ll
do things,” Darren said. “It’s
risky; you don’t want to go too
crazy.”
They employ some social
media for promotions but the
bulk of their clientele comes
through word-of-mouth.
Watching over the decades,
a pattern has become evident:
Regular customers being show-
Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
Godfrey Nursery owners Darren and Jennifer Godfrey Schad rearrange newly grown hanging baskets.
The Aumsville, Ore., nursery produces more than 20,000 baskets annually.
ing up as soon as the nursery
opens for the season, peaking
around May 1. June then brings
an annual lood of new custom-
ers who’ve just heard about the
place from those other custom-
ers.
“Mom passed away from
Alzheimer’s last spring,” Jenni-
fer said. “Sadly, this prevented
her from enjoying the growth
of the nursery through the past
years.”
Since assuming ownership
in 1997, Jennifer and Darren
have learned who’s really in
charge.
“Without a doubt, Mother
Nature drives the bus,” Dar-
ren said. “When the weather’s
good, sales are good. You’ve
got to watch for severe cold,
too. I do a lot of staying up at
night to watch the greenhouses.
Though we try to stay preventa-
tive there are always things like
heaters that decide they don’t
want to work.”
While their location off the
beaten path has prevented even
some locals from discovering
Godfrey Nursery, it doesn’t
deter visitors from as far away
as Seattle, Idaho and Central
Oregon, including landscap-
ers, independent garden center
owners and municipalities.
“They’ll bring a big trail-
er or truck and start illing
it,” Darren said. “Some make
monthly trips.”
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