“The kids were born and raised under the counter… we always joked that Kraemer’s was two nurseries in one.” -Joanne Kraemer

Kraemer’s Garden started out fifty years ago and has become a staple in the community of McMinnville. January 1st, 1968 Dave and Joanne Kraemer bought Ted’s Market, a small fruit stand close to where the current billboard is now. Quickly they began to switch over to nursery stock. Joanne attributes this change to women of the time starting to go to work more and canning less.

The couple lived on the property with their first two children for a year and a half before moving across town. They still continued to raise their four children, and later grandchildren, at the store and pioneer a lifetime love of the business. Since Dave and Joanne have retired, their youngest son (Karl) has taken over the business and created that same small family feel with all of the people who work there sharing the enthusiasm for gardening.

Kraemer’s is where it is today because of a strong family who believed in work ethic, personal attention, and a small-town ideology.

“At Kraemer’s Garden we strive for one on one attention with customers to ensure personalized answers and solutions for each individual need. We try to buy mostly local products from wholesale nurseries in the Willamette Valley to support the local economy. We also work to have knowledgeable employees who know a great deal about what we have and keep up to date on new trends in the nursery business. We attend seminars, hold meetings, and read all about what’s new in the industry to ensure up to date information for the customers. The people at Kraemer’s love to share their excitement of gardening with their customers and invite them into the family. We would like to think that all of these things collectively make Kraemer’s a special place to go where you as a customer can find a friendly family setting with knowledgeable staff willing to give you the individual assistance you need.

McMinnville is such a special town to us. It has a small town feel where everybody looks out for one another, where you can still wave at people on the way to work. All of us Kraemer’s have lived here in McMinnville since 1967. We have gone to school here, we shop here, we participate in local events, McMinnville is our home. For this reason and so many more we strive to make McMinnville beautiful and support the people who live here. If we don’t have something a customer is looking for we call around and try to find a local business who does.

On the off season we host workshops to educate the people of McMinnville and if you have a question we are always happy to give a short lesson on pruning, terrarium making, or whatever you need. We also host meetings for the Women in Business Club and on occasion the Boy Scouts stop in.

Kraemer’s Garden started as a small fruit stand and has grown into a beautiful nursey full of beautiful plants of course, but more importantly amazing people, laughter, family, honorary family, learning, community building, and a strong sense of community and work ethic that exemplifies what a small-town family business is about. Kraemer’s Garden is just as the name implies.