‘Not just a store,’ Springfield plant nursery reopens under new owners

Last fall, hundreds of customers signed a guest book at Little Red Farm Nursery in Springfield, sending their well-wishes to the retiring owners and expressing how sad they were that the 35-year-old plant nursery was closing its gates without plans to reopen in the spring. 

For employee Natalie Reeves, it was the perfect time for a new challenge. 

“We had to keep it going, because it is so loved by customers, by the employees, by the community,” Reeves told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. She purchased the business and reopened for the season Feb. 14.

“Every day, customers come in saying, ‘Thank you for being here. Thank you for keeping it going,’” Reeves said.

Bob and Gayle Kramer opened the nursery in 1990 on 1½ acres adjacent to their home on the southwest corner of the roundabout at South 42nd Street and Jasper Road. They were parents of young children and wanted to supplement Bob Kramer’s income as a watercolor artist after he sold his share in another business. 

“We had land and we both loved plants, and so it just seemed to come into our head to try something like that,” Bob Kramer, 75, told Lookout. “I don’t think we imagined at all at the time of doing something like (what) currently exists.”

A place of respite

The first season was small: one greenhouse and a little display area with plants. Today, the nursery, which sits in view of Mount Pisgah, has a large greenhouse for houseplants and an outside area filled with flowers, shrubs, trees, hanging baskets, perennials and herbs. 

“It just grew to the size that it is now,” Kramer said. “And our customer following grew with it. And it grew to be, I think, quite a valuable part of the community.”

He and his wife recalled community members visiting the nursery after the 1998 Thurston High School shooting.

“People were in shock and aghast that this had happened, and they came in and said, ‘We just need to be here,’” Kramer said. “People have always come here with that idea of, they’re coming from work or something, and life is fast, and they come here and it slows down, and they can just kind of unwind.”

He said the nursery has always been a place of respite, “not just a store where you could buy plants.” In a culture of big box stores, the nursery provides personal service. 

“Almost like coming to your favorite pub, where people know you and you’re welcomed. So that was sort of our intent, and that is how, apparently, people received it, and we’re glad for that,” Kramer said. “Natalie wants to keep that going, and that makes us happy.”

‘This place just was so magical’

Reeves, 52, is a lifelong gardener, inspired by her grandma, who would name each of her roses and trees after her grandkids. 

“She would love this place, and she would be so proud of me,” Reeves said. 

She started working at the nursery last spring, which she called a “dream job.” Her daughter is about to graduate from high school and her son is in college, and the former chemist was trying to figure out what was next for her. Reeves is taking horticulture classes at Clackamas Community College and is on the board of the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group.

After the Kramers announced their retirement to the staff in August, Reeves talked with them about the possibility for the nursery to continue, ultimately deciding to keep the business’s name and employees, “whatever we could to maintain that cherished institution that was known as Little Red Farm Nursery in the community.”

Employee Jena Hosking, who is in her third season at the Little Red Farm, said the nursery is a source of pride for Springfield. She had visited one time before deciding to apply to work there and leave a job she was unhappy in.

“This place just was so magical,” she said. “It was different than any other nursery. It wasn’t just like pots and pots lined up. It really felt very special.”

She said plants help people see each other’s humanity, like a customer who talks about a spider plant their mom had in their childhood kitchen and how it always reminds them of her.

“They bring out the nurturing side of people,” Hosking said. “Even the hardest people, they bring out the softness, and they bring out the part that’s willing to tend to something gently. And that’s a really sweet thing to see in people, especially people that feel very different than you.”

She said finding out that the nursery would reopen felt like winning the lottery. 

Lorene Wright, who was shopping for a houseplant in the greenhouse, said she had been disappointed when she heard the nursery was closing. She appreciates its large variety of options. 

“I’m just excited that they’re back open,” the 41-year-old Springfield resident said. “To be able to keep something that’s been part of Springfield’s history for so long, even if it is new ownership, but to keep it alive is really pretty great.”