A Tale of Two Postmen Turned Accidental Alpine Plant Merchants: The Sikiyou Rare Plant Nursery Story

October 25, 1973

My dear garden friends, let me transport you back exactly 50 years to a charming story that began with a simple newspaper article about two extraordinary plantsmen.

"No Garden Should Be Without One!" proclaimed The Times and Democrat on this day.

The story featured two retired postal clerks in Medford [MED-ferd], Oregon, who found themselves in an unexpected predicament.

Despite having no phone listing and no advertising, their rare plant business was flourishing beyond their wildest dreams.

But here's the delightful part - these gentlemen, Boyd Kline and Lawrence Crocker, weren't trying to build an empire.

They simply wanted to fund their weekend plant-hunting adventures.

Boyd Kline's passion eventually led him all the way to the Himalayas in 1978. Though they sold the nursery in 1979, their legacy lived on. Lawrence Crocker's name still blooms eternally in the Daphne x medfordensis 'Lawrence Crocker', a sweetly scented purple beauty that flowers for months.

Lawrence Crocker died in 2011.

Three years later, in 2014, Kline's obituary shared a poignant look back at their early days of plant collecting. 

... Dad's love of plants got the best of him and he started the Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery along with a fellow postal worker Lawrence Crocker.

In 1964 they issued their first mail-order catalog and thus was born one of the most well-known rare plant nurseries' in the world.

Under the tutelage of Marcel LePiniec [mar-CELL leh-PIN-yeck], a French horticulturist transplanted to southern Oregon, the founders were inspired to begin propagating and shipping out rare native plants of the Siskiyou Mountains.

The first catalog listed 125 formerly unavailable species.

The first year their customers bought everything they had grown.

Reaching the age of retirement in 1978, the two men sold the nursery. It has since changed hands again but is still in business in Talent.

Now back during the time of today's article was written over 50 years ago, Kline and Crocker were tenderly nurturing a rare treasure: Sempervivum tectorum [sem-per-VEE-vum tec-TOR-um] 'Calcareum Monstrosum' [cal-CAIR-ee-um mon-STRO-sum].

Calcareum varieties look pretty similar, sporting juicy green leaves with sharp, dark tips. They tend to be more sensitive to conditions than your typical Sempervivum. 

Now, if you're caught up in today's popular succulent trend, you might recognize Sempervivum by its charming common name - "hen and chicks."

These delightful rosette-forming plants have become the darlings of modern home décor, but fifty years ago, Kline and Crocker were hunting for their rarest varieties.

Isn't it wonderful how some things come full circle?

The very plants these two postal workers cherished are now experiencing a renaissance in our own gardens.

While you might not find their rare 'Callareum Monstrosum' at your local garden center, you can create your own alpine garden with the many beautiful Sempervivum varieties available today.

And here's the magic - just like Kline and Crocker's passion spread through word of mouth, these charming plants multiply naturally, with each "mother hen" producing countless "chicks."

Every time you share a plant with a friend, you're continuing a tradition that these two remarkable plant hunters began half a century ago in the Siskiyou [SIS-ki-you] Mountains.