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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 6, 2021
Stoller Farms: Two generations operate nursery
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
Stoller Farms
Stoller Farms
Eden Taylor of Stoller Farms
Nursery has a ready helper
in her 3-year-old daughter,
Victoria. The family busi-
ness specializes in zonal
and calliope geraniums.
They opened Stoller
Farms, the nursery, in 1997
with one greenhouse and
a propagation area. Stoller
Farms now encompasses nine
greenhouses totaling 18,000
square feet, three of them
added in the six years since
Eden quit her day job to join
the family business.
Stoller Farms produces
more than 2,500 lush hanging
baskets a year and, in addition
to geraniums, grows a variety
of annuals.
Contacts made over
decades of attending farm-
ers markets has served the
family well in the wake of
COVID-19.
Stoller Farms has been a
fi xture at Beaverton Farm-
ers Market for 20 years, takes
part in its hometown Molalla
Farmers Market and has more
contacts from stints at the
Lake Oswego and Wilson-
ville farmers markets.
“We have an interesting
booth, a lattice canopy setup
with a canopy we hang our
baskets from; that makes it
really stand out,” she said.
“We have our regulars at
the farmers markets,” Eden
said. “The Clark County
Home & Garden Show and
the Clackamas County Mas-
ter Gardeners show were both
shut down due to COVID, but
we’ve had a good following
Stoller Farms is a regular at area farmers markets and other events.
of the market. He went into
the fryer chicken business for
a short time and while explor-
ing options he decided to turn
his greenhouse hobby into a
business.
“I saw the potential in
plant sales, and farmers mar-
kets were really developing in
the mid- and late 1990s,” said
Marvin Stoller, who supple-
mented his knowledge with
horticulture classes at Clacka-
mas Community College.
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MOLALLA, Ore. —
Time, economic trends and
consumer preference have
combined to transform Stoller
Farms of Molalla, Ore., from
a turkey farm into a large-
scale nursery.
Owned by Marvin and
Linda Stoller, their daugh-
ter, Eden, and her husband,
Simon Taylor, with her
brother, Mark, the nursery
produces some 5,000 zonal
and calliope geraniums a year.
“We just started selling
them and as they became pop-
ular, added more and more,”
Eden Taylor said. “We have
a large variety of colors and
our geraniums are larger
than most; they make a great
all-summer fl ower.”
Marvin Stoller had a tur-
key farm from 1979 until
1992 when the bottom fell out
from the shows and the mar-
kets with people driving an
hour-plus to come out here to
the farm.
“It was scary last year,” she
said. “We weren’t sure if we
were going to have to close all
our houses so it’s been pretty
gratifying to see people com-
ing on out here themselves.”
The nursery is part of
the Molalla Farm Loop that
includes 12 farm stops fea-
turing nurseries, vineyards
and other value-added ag
businesses.
“We help each other out,”
Eden said. “I like to hand out
brochures to our visitors and
recommend other places in
the area. It helps when you’re
off the beaten path.”
Eden can often be seen
making the rounds with her
3-year-old daughter, Victoria,
in tow.
“She loves helping in the
greenhouse and has started
identifying plants, which is
fun,” Eden said, adding that
the farm was part of her child-
hood as well.
“I have been selling at
farmers markets since I was 9
years old and we still use my
grandpa’s old Ford truck to
get there,” Eden said. “I was
excited when I got my driv-
er’s license so I could start
driving a truck and working
on our booth.”