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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 6, 2021
K’s Nursery: Wide
selection key to success
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
COLTON, Ore. — By the
time Ken and Kathy Carroll
got together 28 years ago,
they already shared many
years of nursery and green-
house experience.
They decided to start
their own nursery in the
countryside near Colton,
Ore., on the 4 acres where
Kathy grew up. They started
K’s Nursery in 1993.
One greenhouse has
become 10, and over the
years they have built a
diverse collection.
“We have everything,”
Kathy said. “We grow bas-
kets, annuals and peren-
nials; trees, shrubs, vines,
berries, herbs; and vege-
tables of all kinds. We try
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Kathy Carroll of K’s Nursery is surrounded by the hun-
dreds of fl ats of annuals she and her husband, Ken,
propagate every year.
to have a large variety of
things.”
In previous years, the
Carrolls participated in
plant sales and farmers mar-
kets, but after the closures
of the COVID-19 year, they
realized that wasn’t neces-
sary to keep their nursery
profi table.
Kathy said it helps to be
part of the Molalla Coun-
try Farm Loop, a commu-
nity of family farms and
businesses that have banded
together to provide visitors
with a taste of the bounty
the Willamette Valley has
to off er.
K’s Nursery is open
about 7 months a year
during spring, summer
and fall. They have some
wholesale sales but most
of their business is at their
retail nursery.
On a recent day Kathy
was fi nishing some col-
or-themed baskets for an
upcoming wedding. The
nursery produces hun-
dreds of fl ats of annuals and
perennials every year.
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F&B Farms & Nursery: Keeping
in touch with customers year-round
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
WOODBURN, Ore. —
Much has changed since
1997, when brothers Fred
and Bill Geschwill and their
wives, Leigh and Heidi,
started a small retail garden
center in Woodburn, Ore.
Though mostly whole-
sale now, the family has
kept the retail center, which
is run by Bill’s wife, Heidi
Geschwill.
Leigh Geschwill, who is
Fred’s wife, says it provides
them with “direct access to
market research.”
F&B Farms and Nurs-
ery grows organic vegeta-
bles, fl ower baskets, bed-
ding plants, grasses and
perennials. They also have a
farm where they grow about
1,000 acres of hops, row
crops, hazelnuts and grass
seed.
In addition to the plants
and fl owers in the green-
house, F&B has a brisk
business in propagating
hops for other farmers.
The nursery ships prod-
uct 52 weeks a year. In a
typical year it sells around
3 million plants.
The plants go to inde-
pendent retailers all over
Oregon and Washington
and into Idaho, accommo-
dating the various terrains
and climates that make up
their market.
“The beautiful thing
about being a greenhouse
business vs. a nursery
business is having frequent
contact with our customers
all year,” Leigh said. “We
will keep using some of the
ways we stayed in touch
during COVID. Our buy-
ers are busy and it is diffi -
cult for them to get away to
visit vendors and see prod-
ucts in person, so we post
pictures with our avail-
ability lists and have done
Zoom tours of the nursery
F&B Farms
Leigh Geschwill of F&B Farms and Nursery amid the
millions of plants shipped annually. The Woodburn,
Ore., operation includes a retail store, wholesale and
retail greenhouses and a farm.
to stay connected.”
But in-person visits are
still the best, she said.
“The Farwest Show is
coming back this summer
and we’re really looking
forward to seeing people
again,” she said.
The nursery has 35 to 40
permanent employees and
hires contract labor in the
spring.
“We try to take care of
our employees and make
sure they know we appre-
ciate them, which includes
fi nding ways to make their
jobs less labor intensive,”
Leigh said.
“We also spend a lot of
time making sure our com-
puter system and how we
process our order-pull-
ing, planting line and other
paperwork is effi cient so
we’re not having to do extra
work or rework,” Leigh
said. “It makes a huge dif-
ference not having to run
out to the same greenhouse
10 times in a day.”
It also leaves more
time for industry involve-
ment. Leigh remains heav-
ily involved in the Oregon
Association of Nurseries, of
which she is a past president.
Fred, past president of
the Oregon Hop Commis-
sion, is Oregon Aglink’s
current board president.
Leigh and Fred are big
proponents of its Adopt a
Farmer program.
“There are so many
benefi ts to that program,”
Geschwill said. “Probably
the most important is con-
necting kids to the land.
The kids love going out
to farms and seeing how
things are done and where
their food and their plants
come from.”