<Begin Segment 41>

RW: Okay... let's see. I wanted to get your impressions of what this property looked like when you first started your business here. Do you remember what was here? And what it looked like?

KO: Yes. Columbia Greenhouse kept their property up quite well, in comparison to a lot of places. And when we saw this place, we could see that we had too many projects to do at one time. And so we had to kind of set our priorities as to how we were going to take care of this problem of rebuilding all of the old houses that were on the property. So we virtually rebuilt this entire range. A range is what they call greenhouses, a group of greenhouses. So we spent as much time rebuilding, as we did running the business. That took its toll, because that was taking away from whatever profits we were able to make. Just rebuilding alone took all of the capital that we could get per year. But, we made it.

RW: What were some of the plants that you began propagating here and selling? What your first crops that you were...

KO: Well, as I recall, the first crop were cut mums. When we take a look at the outside, I'll point out some areas where these cut flowers were being grown. And we'd have fields of cut flowers, and we'd have to go out and cut 'em, whether it's raining, or freezing, or sun shining; and bundled 'em up and box 'em or can 'em up, and take 'em down to the wholesale house. Then we grew poinsettias some, and started in growing a few lilies and geraniums. At that time, everybody grew a little bit of everything. It's a little more -- well, it's a little different now, in that people try to keep away from just getting into everything. It just can't be done.

RW: When were, or what were some of your first customers that you established?

KO: Well, that's kind of a sticky point, because I had all of these contacts that I had established working with Columbia and I think I stepped on their toes, going out to talking to these people. And I got, we got some of 'em too. And naturally, you're not gonna' get 'em all, but the other part was that, since the wholesale house were your primary outlet, we had good relationships with the wholesale houses. And so we were able to get started that way.

RW: And also, Seattle was growing at that time, since 1958. So it was probably a good time for you to be starting off a new business and building the business, with the population growth as well.

KO: Well, I think, I'm sure that helped. Because there was a need for more and more plants. And there still is a need for more plants. I don't know if we're ever going to get caught up to the point where there's going to be a saturation. But that has happened in other areas.

<End Segment 41> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.