August 18, 2017
CapitalPress.com
7
Nursery grows from interest in palms
By ALIYA HALL
Capital Press
Aliya Hall/Capital Press
Jim and Eveling Parsons are the owners of Oregon Palm Nursery.
seeds online from outside the
country, because there weren’t
many palm seed producers in
the U.S. at that time.
“I read how to germinate
and grow them, and got a
pretty good success rate. But
I think I bought more than I
needed; I had way too many
and thought, What am I going
to do with these?” He said.
Parsons began contacting
local nurseries, but they had
little interest. That was when
he decided he needed a bigger
property.
“I brought my plants with
me and ramped it up more.
People now call me and make
appointments. We don’t have
regular business hours because
I still teach. I’m on vacation
right now, which works out
pretty good because spring and
summer are my best selling
months,” Parsons said.
About 90 percent of its
inventory is cold-hardy exot-
ics, plants that can withstand
a wet and cooler climate. The
nursery’s most common palms
are Chinese Windmill and
ARBORVITAE TREES
Hard to Find Sizes
WE HAVE THEM!
(Min. order of 10)
Conifer Kingdom
6450 Brush Creek Dr. NE,
Silverton, OR
info@coniferkingdom.com
503.874.4123
N17-3/#T3D
Waggie. However, it also sells
Mediterranean and other rare
palms, along with succulents,
cacti and bamboo.
The biggest challenge
Parsons has is producing the
and working with the general
public. Just meeting new peo-
ple and helping them beautify
their landscape and make their
home beautiful. Just that per-
sonal touch with homeowners
is rewarding, I think.” Parsons
said.
Your best pick is
FarmSeller.com
By planting heavily rooted trees. At
Holden Wholesale we establish our trees
in 2 Gallon containers because more
roots make bigger stronger trees.
Mycorrhizal inoculation makes our trees
more resistant to root rot and increases
nutrient uptake by 50% promoting a faster
growing and healthier plant.
• Tissue Culture • Mound Layered
Varieties in production are Dorris, Eta,
Felis, Gamma, Jefferson, McDonald,
Theta, Tonda di Giffoni,
Wepster, Yamhill, and York.
Supplies are limited so we encourage
ordering a year in advance of planting.
10374 Hazelgreen Road NE
Silverton, Oregon 97381
(503) 873-5940
FAX (503) 873-8726
holdenwholesale@frontier.com
More than 1080 rural
property listings from over 70
rural property professionals.
• Ag Businesses
• Hobby Farms
• Berries
• Large & Small
Acreage
• Livestock
• Nursery/
Greenhouse
• Crops
• Dairies
• Farm Properties
• Orchards &
Vineyards
• Ranch Properties
• Recreational /
Resort
• Rural Residential
• Timber
Buyers can search by type, price, location, acreage,
bedrooms, baths, crops, livestock, water, irrigation and more.
BROKERS: for more information
contact your FarmSeller sales rep today
800-882-6789
N17-1/#7
WOODBURN, Ore.— Jim
Parsons said he is asked all the
time how he got into the palm
tree business.
“When I first started show-
ing at farmers’ markets, peo-
ple who didn’t understand
that palms could grow here
looked at me like I was crazy,”
he said. “Now I have people
calling me, especially in the
warmer months. So, it seems
to be going more mainstream.”
Parsons, who is the health
teacher at Woodburn Middle
School, calls his family-owned
business, Oregon Palm Nurs-
ery, a good “side-hustle.”
“I lived overseas and my
first couple of teaching jobs
were in tropical places. The
first one was Guam and the sec-
ond was Honduras. I learned
to love palm trees and tropical
plants,” he said. “They’re just
so beautiful and majestic, and
they’re an icon by themselves.
Someone who doesn’t like
them, I just don’t understand.
They evoke a relaxed feeling
for me, a peaceful relaxation
when I see them.”
When he moved back to
Oregon in 1999, Parsons saw
a Chinese Windmill Palm in
a Portland nursery with a tag
saying it was hardy to low
temperatures, and that sparked
his research into growing palm
trees.
“I looked up some other
information about cold palms
and thought, Wow, that’s
amazing,” he said.
Parsons bought his first
palms, especially the Waggie
palm.
“The Chinese Windmill
will grow one foot of trunk on
average a year, but the Wag-
gie grows six inches, if lucky,
a year. The first five years are
painfully slow,” he said.
The nursery is getting more
customers from Northeast
Portland because homeown-
ers there have bigger lots and
gardens, and have been fixing
them up this year, he said. Par-
sons also sells to hotels and
restaurants with Cuban, Mex-
ican or Asian themes that want
to make their business more
attractive and inviting.
“We’re trying to focus more
on the private homeowner,
farmseller@capitalpress.com
www.farmseller.com N17-4/#13