An Interview with Wabash Farms – By Sophia Ronan (Spring 2023)
The native plant nursery industry is a difficult one to succeed in. It’s important to speak to the people that have dedicate their lives to this work. Wabash Farms is a wholesale native plant nursery located Enumclaw. Since their establishment in 1995, Sandy Miller and Jim Bitney have learned a lot about how to find success in the native plant nursery industry. Please enjoy this interview!
An Interview with Wabash Farms
Sandy Miller is the owner of Wabash Farms, a wholesale native plant nursery in Enumclaw, Washington that specializes in raising plants from local seed sources. Sandy started Wabash Farms with her husband, Jim, 30 years ago, and with her success you’d think she would be touting the horticultural degree to back it up, but Sandy actually studied Zoology at Washington State University, hoping to become a veterinarian. Except for a few classes, namely botany, plant identification, and Spanish, most of what Sandy learned about native plant production, she learned by doing. Sandy and the success of her nursery speak to the state of the native plant nursery industry and what interested individuals might consider when starting their journey with growing native plants.
Growing plants at Wabash Farms:
To get into the nursery industry, Sandy first tried to grow subalpine plants, an idea that sprouted from her love of backpacking. Before establishing their reputation, Sandy and Jim would sell plants out of their van to different ornamental nurseries. Their effort and strategies shifted, however, after opportunities with contract grows illuminated the demand for local native plants for restoration. Today, a majority of their sales are contract grows with government organizations, non-profits, and occasionally, large landscaping companies. Contract grows can be a wonderful opportunity to build strong relationships, which are vital in the uncertain industry of native plants. Contracts can come late in the growing season and vary in amount, meaning that growers often have to speculate demand based on the previous three years of sales. Although contract grows are a crucial part of security and income for nurseries like Wabash Farms, Sandy says they can also be a barrier for new nurseries given the duration, often around five years, and exclusivity of contracts once they have started. In a world where restoration is crucial and current plant growers are aging out, there are few young native plant nurseries emerging.
The joy and legacy of growing plants:
Sandy says her favorite parts about owning Wabash Farms are getting to be her own boss, spending time outside, and the opportunity to care for plants. As the administrative demands of operating a nursery grow, there’s just something about having your hands in the dirt that many of us plant lovers will understand. Speaking about her day to day tasks at Wabash Farms, Sandy enjoys pulling together orders because she is able to appreciate everything coming together, years later.
Sandy is still an avid hiker and she often encounters the restoration sites where many of her plants end up. She notes she gets to do some “quality assurance,” checking up on the plant’s survival rate. There is also a legacy within this work, as the plants that do survive will outlive her and Jim.
Sandy’s advice for anyone who wants to grow native plants:
Start small! Appreciate the process because you need to learn it slowly. The neat thing about raising plants is that you don’t need to know a whole lot about plants, you just have to start trying. And if there is one thing for sure, you don’t own a native plant nursery for the money. You do it for the love and the experience of life.
Wabash Farms
Sandy Miller and Jim Bitney
https://www.wabashfarms.info/
wabash@nventure.com
Phone: (360) 825-7051
Fax: (360) 825-1949
About Sophia Ronan
Sophia Ronan is a graduated from the University of Washington studying Environmental Science and Resource Management. She was a student intern at the SER-UW Native Plant Nursery for the entire 2022-23 academic year and it was one of her favorite experiences at the UW. After she graduation, Sophia will spend the summer working on a research project documenting wildflower phenology at Mt. Rainier. In her free time, Sophia loves hiking, reading, and going to trivia nights with her friends.