DCA Outdoor to manage Gardens Alive! Oregon operations

CORNELIUS, Oregon – Rio Verde Holdings, LLC has purchased the entire nursery operations of Gardens Alive’s LM Farms in Oregon, totaling 300 acres of container nursery production.

Rio Verde Holdings, LLC is owned by a green industry investment group which will run the business as Rio Verde Plantas. DCA Outdoor will manage operations of the nursery.  

“Rio’s container facilities will close the loop on what we had originally envisioned for an Oregon operation,” said DCA Outdoor founder and CEO Tory Schwope. “We expect to integrate Schwope Brothers field operation and the Rio container operation.”

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Rio Verde Plantas is in close proximity to where DCA Outdoor acquired the former Fishback Nursery, now known as Schwope Brothers Tree Farms, a few months ago. 

“They’re practically right next door to each other,” Schwope said. “There are a lot of synergies that we can incorporate to produce a higher quality product more efficiently.” 

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Once the current product line designed for the mass merchant market is shipped out, the Rio Verde team will begin to build a new line of products. Many of these products will be propagated at Rio Verde and then grown in the fields at Schwope Brothers, and finally finished back at Rio in a container.  

Rio Verde Plantas will continue to pursue innovative production methodologies and build upon the strong operational team currently at the nursery. Rio will focus on supplying growers and landscape distribution centers across the country.  

“Many of the products we produce at Rio will supply other brands in our organization, as well as many current customers of those brands,” Schwope said.  “This is part of our plan, we are not ‘just growing to grow.’ We know who our core customers are and the kinds of products and programs that fit their needs.”

Rio Verde Plantas and Schwope Brothers Tree Farms will be led by a common management and administrative team.  There will be several new key positions created.  “We are extremely excited to create more opportunity in our organization, more professional careers and more leadership opportunities,” Schwope said.