2010 Farwest Show
Nursery Tours
Value. Variety. Selection. Quality.
Farwest Show Nursery Tours
Aug. 24 & 25
Quality plants are essential to your business and the reason for Oregon’s success. See first-hand why the Oregon nursery industry has flourished for more than 100 years. You’ll meet some of Oregon’s premier nurserymen and women and they’ll share their infectious love of plants.
Grow your success and competitive advantage by touring some of Oregon’s best nurseries, all in the comfort of a luxury coach bus surrounded by other green industry professionals.
Each tour offers a variety of plant material and growing environments. There’s something for everyone—from liners to finished material for the landscape.
Who should register:
- Retailers interested in unique, new or tried and true plants for their customers
- Growers looking for liner material
- Green industry professionals wanting to purchase finished, landscape-ready and bare root plants
The nurseries on these tours are looking forward to showcasing Oregon, its nursery industry and their own nurseries. Along the way, we hope you’ll enjoy our hospitality and the beauty of our state. Please note: These tours are all about the plants and will not be focused on production techniques.
Tour Logistics
Tours leave the Oregon Convention Center promptly at 8am and return by 6pm or earlier. Register by July 31 for the early bird discount of $75 per person. Beginning August 1, tours are $110 per person. Tour price includes lunch, snacks and beverages. Last day to register for a tour is August 16. Space is limited to 50 per tour, so register early.
Register online or by calling the OAN office at 503.682.5081 or 800.342.6401.
Cancellation policy: Registrations cancelled on or before July 31, 2010 will be assessed a $5 handling fee. No refunds will be given after July 31, 2010.
Tuesday, August 24
Tour 1 – The Full Meal Deal
Tour cost: $75 before Aug. 1; $110 after Aug. 1
Oregon has a lot to share with you and this tour provides a taste of the best: innovation, niche markets, large scale operations, retail, wholesale, and bare root to specimen material.
GK Machine Inc.
GK Machine provides custom equipment, contract manufacturing, and greenhouse and supplies to the nursery industry. State of the art design, quality workmanship, teamwork and continuous improvement establish them as a leader in value to their customers. The company uses a broad range of state-of-the-art equipment to fabricate high quality machinery. From the most delicate engravings to the toughest bending jobs, their equipment eliminates the need to outsource. For that reason, they maintain strict quality control standards as they manufacture some of the most reliable equipment in the industry. GK Machine will host lunch at their manufacturing facility.
Hughes Water Gardens
Oregon’s premier water garden nursery, Hughes Waters Gardens is a wholesale grower of premium pond plants since 1987. It also offers a retail garden center surrounded by a restful pond and waterfall and hosts a water gardening and garden art extravaganza in August when the large-leaved Victoria water lilies are in bloom. A series of educational workshops and landscape services are also offered to the public. The nursery grows a full line of pond plants for wholesale nurseries, retail garden centers, and landscape contractors.
J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. (Barlow Farm)
J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. farms on 3,000 acres of Oregon's finest soils. Microclimates and soils unique to each of their six farm units enable them to choose the best growing conditions for each variety of tree. This ample acreage allows for crop rotation cycles, fallowing and cover cropping - good farming practices which improve soil tilth and reduce weed and soil pathogens - thus reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides. For the first 40 years, the nursery was primarily known as a producer of bare root trees. In 1984, J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. pioneered the technique of containerizing bare root trees in order to extend the selling season.
Peace of Mind Nursery Inc. (West Linn field)
Peace of Mind Nursery specializes in rare and unusual conifers—the gems of the conifer world. They also offer a wide selection of maples, ornamentals and more common conifers in larger quantities. The nursery has outstanding conifers from dwarf and slow growing to large specimens that can meet any landscape desire or requirement. The nursery offers multiple sizes and price points for more than 530 varieties.
TSW Nursery Sales
TSW Nursery Sales is a grower and broker of quality nursery stock. They work with more than 250 growers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California, stocking an abundant variety of material. They supply their customers with everything from 4-inch liners to 4-inch caliper shade trees to 20-foot conifers. To ensure their customers receive only quality material, they hand select all of the plant material that the nursery ships.
Wednesday, August 25
Tour 2 – Head to the Hills!
Tour cost: $75 before Aug. 1; $110 after Aug. 1
Four diverse and top quality nurseries will be showcased to the east of Portland, from bare root fields to large caliper specialty stock and a greenhouse operation growing the more unique annual and perennials varieties. Beautiful views of Mt. Hood and exceptional hospitality will be an added bonus.
Cedarglen Floral Company
Greenhouse grower Cedarglen Floral Company offers quality, unique annuals, vegetables and perennials in 4-in, quart and gallon pots and in a variety of hanging baskets. New additions appear on their availability list every year, from Alyssum to Zantedeschia aethiopica. Serving garden centers, they also offer a commercial basket program for resorts, buildings and city streets.
Don Schmidt Nursery Inc.
Don Schmidt Nursery is located on 200 acres and has been family owned and operated since 1939. They specialize in Japanese Maples, Dogwood and Flowering Cherry varieties. Nursery stock is grown on a six-to-ten-year growth cycle from seedlings or by grafting, and is cultivated using dry land farming techniques to produce a plant capable of withstanding higher levels of environmental stress.
R & H Nursery Inc.
Owner Pat Holt has been in the nursery business for three decades and is proud to grow and sell specimen grafted conifers, select shrubs, and shade trees, including several Ginkgo and Stewartia varieties.
Sester Farms Inc.
Started in 1972 by Gordon Sester, Sester Farms first became known for its root pruned trees and Colorado spruce. The nursery now offers a diverse selection—more than 150—of bare root and container material, from lasting favorites to the newest selections. Some of the newest additions include an expanded line of cold-hardy, full-bodied shrubs in a 5-gallon container. Many new varieties of deciduous shade and ornamental trees have been added to their product mix, some of which are certified virus indexed and can be shipped into Canada. Lunch will be served at the nursery.
Tour 3 – Stop and Smell the Roses…and Conifers, Ornamentals and Annuals
Tour cost: $75 before Aug. 1; $110 after Aug. 1
To fully experience Oregon’s nursery industry takes days (and a visit to the Farwest Show) and can be overwhelming for the uninitiated. This one-day tour gives you a glimpse of many aspects of the industry with visits to top quality growers and retailers. You’ll even have an opportunity to taste some of the state’s produce at the peak of perfection.
Clackamas Horticultural Inc.
Five generations and 98 years of single family ownership and employment distinguish Clackamas Greenhouses dba Clackamas Horticultural Inc. Garden plants are the main focus of the company although they remain a major player in the Ore. and Wash. flowering plant market. The company sells predominately to Independent Garden Centers and Flower Shops, as well at high quality, regionally owned and focused merchants from the food, hardware and ranch supply sectors. The newest technology and growing techniques deliver quality products and minimize environmental impact, e.g., they grow many of their annuals in an ebb and flood system, which recycles the water to reduce water usage, and runoff and they maintain an extensive IPM program.
French Prairie Garden
French Prairie Gardens, a family-owned company, was started in 1987 as a self-service stand that sold fruits and vegetables. Now the farm/nursery offers a farm to market experience with a retail outlet that sells annual-filled hanging baskets and planters and perennials grown by the family. They continue to raise a variety of fruits and vegetables for their retail store and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscribers. They even offer freshly baked goods in the store and by monthly subscription. You’ll get a taste of Oregon’s wonderful produce at this destination.
Heirloom Roses Inc.
Oregon's fertile Willamette Valley is one of the finest climates in the world for growing roses.
Heirloom Roses is a retail and mail order business, growing roses both in the greenhouse and dormant outside. Almost every variety of rose they sell is imported from Europe and England to ensure virus-free stock, the exception being varieties they have obtained (virus indexed) virus-free from Florida Southern College and the University of California at Davis. Scouting for the best new and old European and English roses often results in exclusive introductions. To ensure the best selection for their customers, they bring in more than 500 rose varieties a year for evaluation in their extensive test gardens, of which only about one variety in ten qualifies for their catalog. Beauty, fragrance, and disease-resistance are a high priority. Visit with knowledgeable staff and enjoy the extensive display gardens where 1,500 varieties are grown. Lunch will be served in the gardens.
Schiedel Nursery
Schiedel Nursery is a wholesale nursery specializing in quality-grown, grafted ornamental trees and shrubs, including more than 150 conifer, evergreen and deciduous varieties on their 150-acre farm. They primarily sell trees B&B, however they also offer some varieties in containers. The family owned and operated nursery was established in 1976 and they continue to pride themselves on providing customer service on a personalized level.
