Nurseries and garden centers were one of the few business categories allowed to stay open through the quarantine shutdowns, providing a much needed outlet for the many housebound Oregonians looking to better themselves and their yards. Southwest Portlandâs Cornell Farm, which had its beginnings a century ago as a dairy and has been a retail nursery since 1987, reported a more than 40 percent increase in sales in 2020 over the year before, with owner Deby Barnhart estimating as many as half of the customers were newbies.
Why was digging in the dirt, specifically, so many peopleâs new favorite hobby?
âGardening can meet you wherever you are,â Barnhart says of the relatively inexpensive pastime embraced when so many other amusements were off limits. And with more than 800 varieties of annuals and perennials, an impressive array of large-specimen trees, and a bucolic hilltop setting surrounding a historic farmhouse, itâs no surprise Barnhartâs five-acre, f