SALEM — Youngblood Nursery brings unusual plants to the public by finding, propagating and wholesaling them to independent retail garden centers along the West Coast and beyond.

The all-container nursery, opened in 1990 by Don and Jeanne Youngblood on two acres of the family’s 142-acre farm near Salem’s Wheatland Ferry, now encompasses 40 acres. The family’s passion for unusual plants caught on and the nursery soon became the farm’s mainstay, now selling 300,000-320,000 4-inch to 15-gallon pots a year and offering about 400 varieties. It employs 35-40 full-time people year round.

Display and trial gardens around the office include rarities from around the globe.

Among them is Chilean native Azara microphylla, an evergreen shrub with winter blooms that exude a potent white chocolate fragrance. Rare Oregon native Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, “Wissel’s Saguaro,” is one of their most popular shrubs.

“It’s tall and upright and puts out these funky arms like a saguaro cactus,” sales associate Chris Steinke said. Ceanothus, or California lilac, is also a big seller, as is the zig-zag-branched Camellia japonica “Unryu.” Youngblood’s specialty is Daphne; the nursery carries about two dozen varieties that include some dramatic departures from the norm.

“The Pacific Northwest is full of nice plant geeks who travel the world and bring back these nice things,” Steinke said. “Once they’ve established that they will work for our climate we go out and see what they’ve got.

“We don’t do a whole lot of research; we just go out and say, ‘That’s cool, let’s see if we can grow it; let’s see if we can sell it,’” Steinke said. “That’s what’s nice about working for a family nursery; we’re a good-sized nursery but it’s easy to change and add things.”

Tiny Treasures is a newer line of younger and dwarf plants in 4-inch pots for a more finished product. Such ideas often spring from networking with fellow growers.

“The nursery industry’s always been pretty much an open book,” Steinke said. “You can go to your neighbor/competitor and get good sound advice and they’re happy to give it. We have the Oregon Association of Nurseries that does a lot of work for the industry, putting on trade shows and seminars; getting the wholesalers connected with the retailers. They’ll go to Capitol Hill to push things through.”

Though the nursery likes to try out new technology, some of its biggest time- and labor-savers come from those custom inventions that tend to happen on a family farm.

“We built a conveyor-fed potting machine 6 years ago that works great,” Steinke said. “Don Youngblood developed a tractor-driven poly roller so you don’t have to remove all the greenhouse coverings by hand.” They also came up with a custom-built watering boom; a drive-under system so workers don’t even need to get out of their vehicle.

Youngblood’s plants are getting easier to find on the retail market.

“If you want the most bizarre, biggest selection you might go to Portland Nursery, or for really off-the-wall stuff Cistus Nursery is super cool,” Weeks said, “but there are little ‘boutique-y’ places everywhere in Portland these days; small corner nurseries that carry some pretty unique plants.”