13th St. Nursery reopens under new owners

This is one Polk County master gardener who won't have much time for her home garden this spring.

Dianna Brainard-King and her husband, Scott King, signed a lease in February to reopen the 13th Street Nursery in South Salem, and they've been rushing against Mother Nature to get it ready for a grand reopening Saturday, March 31.

The nursery's original owners, Karen and Glenn Maki, retired last summer, putting the longstanding nursery's future into question. Brainard-King said she and King wanted to buy the land and business when it first went up for sale. King knew Karen Maki from his days at radio station KYKN, where Karen Maki did some advertising.

"I was her ad guy and a client all at the same time," he said.

But King and his wife couldn't get the bank to work out a deal last year.

Every day the couple would drive past the nursery, King on his way to work at Cascade Collections across the street and Brainard-King to her job working for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Time went by, and the land was purchased. Lucky for them, they said, the new owners wanted it to remain a nursery and were willing to lease the land.

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"Everything just fell into place," King said.

With the help of their adult children, the couple has been getting the hibernating nursery back into shape this past month: cleaning, rebuilding and buying plants.

"I get to play in the dirt," said Brainard-King, who still works at ODOT.

"And I'm the business side," her husband added. "We are a good match."

The acre once packed with trees, shrubs, flowers, pots and a gift shop now is much more open. The 3,000 plants the Kings ordered are still trickling in, but pansies, tomatoes, lavender and other plants nicely line new wooden stands that King and his son rebuilt. A new plastic roof covers the outdoor area.

Because the Kings got a late start, they couldn't order everything. Things like trees and shrubs need to be ordered in the fall and therefore won't make much of an appearance in the shop this season. Brainard-King said she is focusing on healthy plants, though there will be some gift items such as gloves, pottery, tools, planter boxes and birdhouses.

"One thing Karen was known for was variety, and I've tried to follow suit," Brainard-King said about her predecessor's reputation for plants.

The Dallas couple said the Makis have been supportive and that they are following the retired couple's lead on several things including using many of the same growers, buying "a little bit of a lot" and providing good plants at good prices. The couple also are keeping the November through mid-February seasonal closure and the 13th Street Nursery name, which is well known in Salem.

"You don't fix what's not broke," King said. "But we will put our flair on it."

That flair includes community outreach and education. Brainard-King, who has a degree in natural resource management and a passion for sustainable practices, has a vision of gardening classes and seminars for adults and kids and even a community garden in the field area that used to hold the nursery's trees and shrubs.

"I'm very much into sustainability, learning about the environment and respecting the environment," Brainard-King said. "I think people would want to learn about that."

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If you go

Saturday's grand opening: Vendors, face painting for kids, giveaways and plant specials, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Regular hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays; closed Mondays and November through mid-February

Where: 1298 13th St. SE, Salem