Nurseries gear up for spring Greenhouses filling with plants for county By Bill Bradshaw and Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa County Chieftain Wallowa County’s three nurseries—Wallowa County, Alder Slope, and The Flower Peddler are ready to help home gardeners and landscapers prepare for spring – once it finally arrives. In a time of COVID-19 closures, nurseries are open because they are deemed an essential business, providing fertilizers, potting soils, and other supplies for raising food as well as flowers. That’s keeping their businesses operating and their employees working. All three nurseries can take orders over the phone and deliver at curbside so customers don’t need to worry about contact with staff. And while all three nursery owners said it might be a bit too early to plant outside, they all recommended starting seeds or nurturing young plants indoors. It’s also a great time to get rid of any remaining debris from last fall, and prepare beds for planting. It’s also a good time to plant trees in moist, workable soils. Each nursery carries many varieties of trees, shrubs, vegetable starts and flowers. But each has their specialties as well. With 24,000 square feet of greenhouses that simulate a warmer, moist climate, Terry and Irene Bates’ Wallowa County Nursery carries a huge variety of fruit, ornamental, and shade trees that they can over-winter well. He also carries nearly every type of plant Wallowa County growers would want. “Our nursery is dedicated to (helping plants) survive in Wallowa County,” he said. Alder Slope nursery is also a full-service business. They carry the particular varieties of berries that grow well in the county. This includes raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and some blackberries. He said Wallowa County residents could also grow table grapes, and has red Candice grape vines in stock. “We have a whole nursery garden center,” Slinker said. “We try to do a bit of everything.” At Wallowa’s Flower Peddler Nursery, Pam Harshfield has seeds, vegetable and flower starts. She will also take special orders and does custom planting. “If they want to bring containers, I can do that,” she said. If its […]
Travis Rigby is the publisher of SuperFloral, the news source for the mass-market floral industry. He leads its website and weekly newsletter, covering what matters to growers, breeders, supermarket floral buyers and category managers. Travis studied journalism at the University of Utah, founded and led PosterGarden.com for 27 years, and is president of FlowerBox.com.
