"We take suggestions from our retailer customers and shape them into products.”

- Alice Doyle and Greg Lee     

by Julie A. Martens

Recognizing the United Nations' International Year of Peace in 1986, Alice Doyle and Greg Lee, Log House Plants, Cottage Grove , Oregon , brought the world to their wholesale customers and home gardeners by tracking plant origins. Four hundred and fifty plant groups and thousands of index cards

"This project isn't a gimmick to sell more plants," Alice stresses. "We founded it on the strong need to do something to encourage people to expand their world view." The map—distributed to the independent garden centers that Log House wholesales to in Oregon and Washington —highlights origins of both common and not-so-common plants.

Garden centers promote knowing plant origins as a way to know what kinds of growing conditions plants need. On the map, gardeners can look up origins of annuals, perennials, herbs and vegetables.

It's old-fashioned growing

Calling themselves an "old-fashioned nursery," Log House Plants grows in wooden flats with large trays. "You won't find any of the mass market pony paks here," says Greg.

Growing takes place in ground beds or in one of the 13 greenhouses covered with a mix of Dynaglass, double poly or fiberglass. Total covered production square footage is 30,000. During the busy season, 30 people handle plants on part of the 52-acre site.

The almost-perfect climate of the Pacific Northwest allows gardeners to grow "practically anything and grow it well," says Alice . "Everything but tender annuals often go in the ground from February on, so things are well established before the weather warms up." Log House is continually searching for varieties that are overlooked by the U.S. nursery industry but perform beautifully in the Northwest.

The No. 1 objective at Log House Plants is to promote independent, full service nurseries. Log House services garden centers with products for gardeners looking for the unusual. Average wholesale flat prices are over $10.

"Grow to Know the World" originated in Spurred by their commitment to world peace, Log House Plants owners Greg Lee and Alice Doyle researched plant origins. For an international garden, try portulaca from Argentina , gypsophila from Russia, dianthus from China , lobelia from , or cosmos from Mexico .

Efficient transport is a must

Being old-fashioned doesn't extend into the offices at Log House Plants. "We have an exceptionally fast computer system” says Alice , "that we use to do all our accounting and desktop publishing." Greg handles accounting—among other duties—and has developed a spreadsheet for tracking detailed costs."We're able to be competitive with larger growers because we know our space and get as many turns as we can” says Greg.

Deliveries go out in trucks designed with doors on the sides and back. Plants go on shelves that are proportionally spaced according to plant height, maximizing use of truck capacity.

"For the long distances we haul plants—seven hours into Seattle —we had to make it worthwhile. The truck design helps out," says Alice .

Showing customers how to use plants

Log House Plants has organized their unusual plant material into plant categories to help their customers stage displays with impact. The annual flower novelties category,.that includes more than 200 varieties not usually available commercially, has subgroups of dryable, cut and rockery flowers.

Other categories include trailing perennial accents, annual vines and screens and blue ribbon vegetable varieties. Each category has its own full accompaniment of colorful labels and informative brochures.

Demonstrating plant use and clear labeling is important at Log House Plants. Their 39-page "Perennial Flower Manual" shows gardeners how to keep flower beds in continuous bloom. "We want to encourage people to design color displays and gardens with bloom time in mind” Alice explains. The manual sells for $3.50.

Every perennial sold at Log House has an extra color-coded label—colors indicate time of year for flowering in Oregon . Labels also include plant light needs. The system makes for easy information transfer between retail garden centers and customers.

Log House Plants specializes in quality plant production and consumer education. All their products are gardener-friendly, developed with the customer in mind.

"The thing that we notice is that the gardeners are often so far ahead of the growers” Alice says. "In fact, a lot of our innovations have sprouted in our own garden because of a need we discovered with our hands full of soil."