NANCY BULEY is Communications Director at J. Frank Schmidt & Son, an Oregon wholesale nursery that supplies trees to garden centers across the United States and Canada. The company also develops new cultivars. In this interview, Nancy gives a glimpse of a tree’s life before it reaches its home in a garden or tree lawn, plus some favorite cultivars.
SCOTT BEUERLEIN: When did you discover an interest in horticulture and what path led you to JF Schmidt?
NANCY BULEY: A long and winding path led me to horticulture, and a lot more twists and turns led me to Schmidt’s. My first job in horticulture was berry picker. I grew up in a wonderful forest environment, but didn’t pay that much attention to trees until I started noticing the trees on campus at Oregon State University, where I was studying journalism. One horticulture class led to another, and I earned a degree in Technical Journalism with a minor in Horticulture.
Marriage, family and work led to nine years in California, where we purchased Schmidt trees for resale to golf courses, ranches and estates in the Santa Barbara area. We happened to move back to Oregon at the same time the Schmidt nursery was planning to hire a summer intern to write catalog descriptions. Frank III suggested to their GM that he call me for an interview because “Nancy’s a good writer and knows about
