OAN MeMber PrOfile : blue herON fArM

Blue Heron Farm grows a wide variety of plants and trees to meet customer demand

Blue Heron Farm

Farwest Trade Show Booth: 20057, 20059, 20061

Founded: 1980

Key personnel: Peter Dinsdale, owner; Carlos and Amie Oliveira, nursery managers

Known for: Wholesale trees and shrubs in B&B, bare root and containers

Location: Farms in Corvallis and Independence, Oregon

Mailing address: P.O. Box 357, Independence, OR 97351

Phone: 541-754-4224

Email: sales@bhfnursery.com

Web: www.bhfnursery.com

By Curt KippThere’s plenty to see at Blue Heron

Farm — and Carlos and Amie Oliveira would be delighted to show it to you.

The husband-and-wife team is responsible for managing a voluminous 480 acres of nursery production at two farms near the cities Corvallis and Independence, Oregon. However, they always make the time to give tours.

“People apologize for taking my time,” Amie said, “but it’s one of the most valuable things I do.”

The tours are mutually beneficial for both the Oliveiras and their custom-ers. “It’s a relationship,” Carlos said. “People are giving you their informa-

tion, their guideline for what you should grow. We’re flexible enough to grow what people want.”

As a result of customer input over the years, the offerings at Blue Heron Farm are very diverse. The nursery ships about 55 percent trees and 45 percent shrubs. Of this material, about 45 percent is grown in conventional containers, with another 30 percent grown pot-in-pot. About 15 percent is B&B material, and the rest is bare root. The nursery also sells a small amount of you-dig specimen material.

Blue Heron ships to markets all over the United States. About 55 per-cent of the material shipped goes to

Diversity is the word

Blue Heron Farm has 480 acres in nursery production at two sites, including this pot-in-pot production area near Corvallis, Oregon. The grower offers around 850 varieties of trees and shrubs. PhOtO by curt kiPP

AUGUST 2014 ▲ DIGGER FARWEST EDITION 27

▲ oan member profile

the Pacific Northwest and intermountain states — basically, from Denver to the Pacific Ocean. The remaining material ships to markets east of Denver, primar-ily on the East Coast.

“The farther away our customers, the smaller the plant material needs to be,” Amie said.

An in-house sales staff handles West Coast orders; sales east of Colorado are handled by brokers. Customers include garden centers for the smaller material, and landscapers for the larger material.

But it’s not just plants that Blue Heron Farm focuses on. It’s the customers. What to grow then takes care of itself.

“People are always suggesting things they’ve seen or that they can’t get enough of,” Amie said. “We tend to listen to the customers, rather than grow things we cannot sell.”

The beginningsOwner Peter Dinsdale has a suc-

cessful history in agriculture going back to 1980. During that time, he has amassed holdings in the thousands of acres, where nursery crops are just the beginning. He also grows grass seed, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and wheat.

But the Oliveiras have a nurs-ery history going back even further — almost four decades.

Amie grew up in Chicago, moving to Oregon during her high school years. She studied horticulture at Oregon State University. Then, in 1975, she took her first job with wholesale grower Oki Nursery at its Oregon location, which was situated in Aurora.

“I liked the people and I liked the work,” she said. “I liked the option of not sitting in an office when the sun is shining.”

Separately, Carlos started in nurser-ies around the same time.

He studied plant pathology at the University of California at Davis. Upon graduation in 1977, he took a job at Oki Nursery’s California location, in Sacramento. His intent was to save money and fund a graduate education,

Shoppers are Buying Berries in the Grocery Store

in Record Numbers.

See Us In Booth #0305. See Our BrazelBerries® Display in the Container Crazy Exhibit too!

Deliciously Beautiful Berry PlantsBranded Program / Innovative Genetics / Marketing

www.brazelberries.com

Deliciously Beautiful Plants

Classic Blueberries Perfected Leading Varieties / Liners / Marketing Programs

www.fallcreeknursery.com

28 AUGUST 2014 ▲ DIGGER FARWEST EDITION

up being a smaller part of the nursery. Things turn out well, but not necessar-ily the way you planned.”

Amie joined Blue Heron Farm in 1995, coming over from J. Frank Schmidt. She and Carlos had met when both were employed with Oki Nursery. They worked together a few years before becoming more than just coworkers.

By the time both ended up at Blue Heron, they were married. Some married couples don’t work well together, but that’s not the case with Carlos and Amie.

“The fact that we had worked well together before we got married made it easier to work together after we got married,” Carlos said.

Meanwhile, by 1998, Blue Heron’s main farm in Independence was run-ning out of space that could be used for nursery crops.

“We started looking for more land,” Carlos said. “Peter has a lot of land in Independence, but a lot of it is in a flood plain — not a good place to grow nursery stock. So he found this piece

but fate intervened.“I fell in love with the plants and

the people, and the fact that bureau-cracy wasn’t a big thing in the nursery industry,” he said. “I never did go back to grad school, and I’ve never regret-ted what I did. I always believed I was going to work for a chemical company or teach at a university, but I’m glad that I didn’t.”

Dinsdale started his farm in 1980, but did not get into nursery crops until 1989. It was a way to diversify what he was already doing. “He had seen other people grow B&B trees, and thought it was something he would like to try to do,” Carlos said.

In 1992, Carlos joined Blue Heron Farm. His background in container growing was put to work not long after that, when Blue Heron began growing containerized material.

“The nursery Peter wanted to have, and the nursery he ended up with, are different,” Carlos said. “He wanted to have a B&B nursery, and that ended

BEAVERLAKEBEAVERLAKEN U R S E R Y

Ground Cover

*Kinnikinnick*Cotoneaster*Rubus*Gaultheria*Euonymus*Vinca*Fragaria*Pachysandra* And other ground cover materials

QUALITY PLUGS!!!!Contract Growing

Year RoundPh: 503-632-4787Fx: 503-632-5412

PO Box 927 21200 S. Ferguson Rd. Beavercreek, OR 97004

www.beaverlakenursery.com

FARWEST Booth #

Amie and Carlos Oliveira, partners in life and business, share the responsibility of managing Blue Heron Farm for owner Peter Dinsdale. PhOtO by curt kiPP

AUGUST 2014 ▲ DIGGER FARWEST EDITION 29

All

-Pu

rpos

e P

lan

t V

ital

izer

Flora USA Inc.6107 SW Murray Blvd. #533,Beaverton, OR 97008http://www.hb-101usa.comE-mail: hb-101@hb-101usa.comPhone: 855-HB101US (421-0187)

Made in Japan

Get Free Sampleat # 13028.

Show SpecialAvailable

TV and Radio CM on KATU, FOX12, KLX FM

of property [near Corvallis].”The Corvallis property enabled an

expansion in containerized and pot-in-pot material.

“Containers have become more important to have,” Amie said. “But there are still trees that grow better in B&B.”

Diversity and customer satisfactionThere’s no one plant that Blue

Heron Farm specializes in. Diversity continues to be their philosophy. It has helped the grower do well in changing markets, and it also pleases customers.

“It’s diversity that drives a lot of our market,” Amie said.

The nursery continues to add new products, while also retaining some favorites in the lineup. Amie’s favorites include Chanticleer pear trees and sar-cococcas in a three-gallon container, which can be hard to find in that size.

“We’re both plant nuts,” Carlos said. “That sort of drives our philosophy. We both like to try new plants, but to my disappointment, sometimes it takes time to get a new plant out into the market.”

According to Carlos, Blue Heron’s sales are improving this year in some areas, not in others. Bare root material and B&B are both up, while container sales are level. “The overall season is improved,” he said.

Carlos and Amie have appreciated the loyalty of customers through the years. That’s why they will continue to put their emphasis on service, rather than sales. Blue Heron has no sales manager and no quotas. It simply grows what customers have shown that they demand — and those customers con-tinue to be satisfied.

“You end up being friends with the bulk of your customers,” Carlos said. “When they tour the nursery, it ends up being like old friends getting together.”

Curt Kipp is the senior publications manager at the Oregon Association of Nurseries and the editor of Digger magazine. He can be reached at ckipp@oan.org or 503-682-5089. Follow him on Twitter at @diggermag.

▲ oan member profile

30 AUGUST 2014 ▲ DIGGER FARWEST EDITION