1991 - Dan Heims began Terra Nova Nursery in cooperation with Paul Iwasaki of Riverview Greenhouses in an effort to bring new and unusual plants from Japan, England, and our own back yard, to the wholesale market. Began an intensive breeding effort in several relatively minor genera. My first "discovery" in 1988 was a variegated coral bells, Heuchera sanguinea 'Snowstorm' of which over 1,000,000 plants have already been sold in England, France and Holland. Traveled to England on a collecting mission in May. Covered 1400 miles of English soil and attended Chelsea Flower Show.

1992 - Entered a partnership Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. with Ken Brown in addition to running Terra Green Landscape. We purchased a "used" tissue culture lab, and we were in the process of upgrading equipment, purchasing chemicals, building a lab building and we erected a modest 10 ft. x30 ft. greenhouse on my property to house stock plants and allow controlled breeding. I am currently working with B&B Laboratories on mass-production of my new plants and am marketing my new introductions through a video to be shown at the Farwest Nursery Show, and a slide to show be shown at the PPA convention in Cleveland.

1993 - Tissue culture lab has been built in Tigard. Production continues. Second educational/collecting trip to England. Meeting with Beth Chatto, Graham Stuart Thomas, and Brian Matthew at respective gardens. Went to Chelsea and helped with garden construction and labeling. Manned the Goldbrook Plants booth. Displayed our product with B&B Laboratories at the SNA nursery convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Farwest Nursery Show presentation. Attended and spoke to PPA on several new Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. introductions in Beautiful British Columbia.

1994 - Have been promoting in earnest, the plants of others through Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. We will have paid out nearly $5000 in royalties by the end of the shipping season. Collecting trip to North Carolina and West Virginia for plant collecting. Lecture to horticultural group in Vancouver, BC, Canada. PPA presentation of new perennials. Approached by Timber Press to do a book on Heuchera and their allies. Ken Druse shoots garden for "The Collector's Garden". Invested in STAGE IV in Mt. Vernon, Washington State, a nursery venture by B&B plantsman Monte Gorman. Erected greenhouse and tunnels in Washington.

1995 - Produced our new 20 page color catalog, and we have released a CD-ROM of photographs of our plants. Garden photographed by Sunset Magazine and by Alan Mandell, international hort photographer. Several Heuchera featured in SUNSET magazine. Fine Gardening article written and completed to run in November (Five-page spread on Heuchera).Featured speaker at California Horticultural society at the Academy of Sciences. Trip to Holland, Germany, Ireland, and England (Hampton Court Show) in June. PPA presentation in Minneapolis. Farwest Nursery Show exhibition. IPPS regional meeting (Introduction of New Plants) Botanical and horticultural collecting trip to New Zealand completed at year's end, spoke to "InPlants" group in New Zealand. Presented with multiple gold medals and "Best New Perennial of 1995" at Plantarium '95 in Holland and at shows in Belgium (see awards page). Breeding work continues with improved flower and foliage forms and for the first time, the combination of the two. Photo shoots for Fine Gardening and Sunset for a feature article on Garden Masters. We have sold our 20,000th plant in New Zealand and are exploring the international market further (inroads to Germany, Holland, and England have been made). Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. bought Macksburg Greenhouses adding 12,000 sq. feet of production to our line. Have begun 2nd lab construction in Canby and have begun planting fields with trial plants and stock.

1996 - Second lab construction complete, additional greenhouse built. Spoke to PPA in Denver for national show. Participated in the National Convention of the American Hosta Society. At the Hosta convention my Hosta 'Jade Cascade' wins the Pauline Banyai Award (Best New Seedling) the David Van Fleet Award (Best green Seedling) and Best of Section (see awards page). Sunset magazine runs 'Garden Masters' series featuring my garden and techniques.Traveled to New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania collecting, presenting, and acquiring photos and information for an upcoming book. Breeding program continues with breakthroughs in Pulmonaria, Tiarella, and Heuchera, especially in flowering types. Five additional medals from Keukenhof show in Holland. Several more presented at VKC Nieuw show in Holland (see awards page) Spoke to the American Association of Nurserymen at their convention on new introductions. Sold landscape construction company after 18 years. Have made marketing bonds with Oosterwijk JR in Holland and JustMust Perennials in England.

1997 - Horticultural trips to California, Michigan, Israel, Japan, UK, and Holland completed. Spoke to the Portland Garden Club on variegated plants. Collecting trip to Japan completed in May. Spoke to a group of Japanese nurserymen in Chiba on "Variegated plants from around the world". Invited to speak to the IPPS in Sussex speaking on New Varieties and to tour Four Oaks in September. My garden is featured on the cover of Organic Gardening. Articles and photographs appear in newspapers and magazines. Website launched in February (under now outdated address of www.teleport.com/~hortman). Conducting massive trials on Pulmonaria (1,100 different) and Tiarella (3,000 different). Began a program of Thalictrum hybridizing. Completed our 2nd expansion in Canby, Oregon, essentially doubling our lab's size and adding 9,000 additional square footage in the greenhouses. (3,000 sq. ft. completed in March) Continued modernization of offices and computer networks. Farwest Nursery Show appearance. Presented three new varieties to the Perennial Plant Association forum on New Perennials in Raleigh, NC.Spoke to the International Plant Propagators in Arundel, West Sussex, UK on launching new varieties. Did research on the new book while in England. Met with Alan Bloom in Bressingham to discuss Heuchera history. Article and photography published in New and Rare Plants, a rare plant magazine in England. Helped man the JustMust perennials booth at the Four Oaks Nursery Show near Manchester, England. Trip to Holland for search for new plant introductions and meet with nursery professionals. Received two Gold and three Silver medals from VKC Nieuw Plant exposition in Holland (see awards page). Plants to Wisley in UK for Heuchera trials 1998.

1998 - Spoke as a primary speaker at Landscape Ontario, Canada's largest commercial trade show in January 1998 on "New Perennials from Around the World." Plants featured in GM Pro, NM Pro, Garden Gate, Greenhouse Grower, Greenhouse Product News, OAN Digger and other trade magazines. Tiarella article written to be published in New and Rare Plants, a rare plant magazine in England. Spoke to the Puget Sound Flower Grower's Association on "New Perennials." Photography and support published in Country Living Gardener.Beginning of polyploidy research at Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. Our Ph.D., Bruce Stermer will be leading the research with my direction on varieties. Preliminary research begun on additional genera for hybridization programs. Have been approved for several photoshoots for my home garden by Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. Had a record turnout for Pulmonaria Trials at the end of February. PPA open house at the nursery. Sylvia Cooperman (for a book on Pulmonaria) photographs and records our trials. We have signed one plant with Blooms of Bressingham and a number with Van Bloem. Our website: www.terranovanurseries.com has been given its own domain and is being updated with improved format, pictures, and wholesale areas. Trials in Tennessee in 1997 at the University of Tennessee list our Heuchera as "Highly desirable for the Southeastern Landscape". Positive results also reported from Alan Armitage's trials at the University of Georgia. Thirteen patents have been written and submitted at this point. Spoke on 3 new introductions at the PPA convention in Boston and did extended trips to Maine and New Hampshire. Presented an informal talk and slide-show in Hodenhagen, Germany for the International Stauden Union (like a PPA for the EU) Spent 2 weeks in Germany collecting plants and visiting nurseries behind the old "iron curtain." Brought back 125 plants from Germany, many new to the US.Terra Nova Nurseries is completing greenhouse expansion, and has built a cooler facility in September '98. This will double our capacity.Spoke to the Northwest Hosta and Shade Gardening Society on "Japanese Shade Plants" in their membership opener. My garden is featured in a frontispiece for the Time-Life Book "Pick the Right Plant" (1998), with another shot inside. Research and collecting trip to Southern California at misc. botanical gardens completed in March. Commissioned to speak on new perennials at the Farwest Nursery Show in August. Winner of 2 Silver awards at Plantarium '98. Two articles published in the Farwest Nursery Show Magazine. Produced a new and expanded color catalog with a CD-ROM a first for a nursery our size. Two Gold medals and 4 Silvers won at VKC Nieuw, a large Dutch tradeshow. Showed at the American Society of Landscape Architect's meeting in Portland in October. Have completed a nursery trip to Costa Rica in early December. Some botanizing done on one of CR's tallest volcanoes (Mt. Poas) with four notable finds: a Costus spp. with velvety black foliage, a Bohmeria with large orange bells and chocolate spots, a climbing Begonia, and a variegated Gunnera insignis. Trip to botanical gardens of Hawaii.

1999 - Speaking engagements completed in Alaska (Alaska Rock Garden Society and Homer Garden Club), Arkansas Flower and Garden Show, Shady Oaks Hosta Society - Nebraska, New York Botanic Garden (2 courses taught), Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons, N. American Rock Garden Society- Willamette Chapter, NW Hosta and Shade Garden Society. Two articles with photography published in American Nurseryman magazine. Tiarella front cover and lead story written and photographed by Dan published in January American Nurseryman. Article printed in Fine Gardening on Tissue Culture. Greenhouse expansion and stock bed expansion completed. 1999 breeding program begun. Photo shoot of Heuchera done by Martha Stewart Living.Trip to UK completed to see RHS-Chelsea and do a collection run to Devon. Met with RHS staff and reviewed RHS Wisley trials for 200 Heuchera, many of which were contributed by Terra Nova. Trip to Plant World Botanic Garden in Newton Abbott. Presentations done for PPA (Pulmonaria) and booths at the PPA and OFA conference in Ohio and the Farwest Nursery Show in Oregon. Company participation and tour for visiting Japanese nurserymen for WUSTA export program held in August. Held a news conference at OFA announcing strategic partnership with Proven Winners and Terra Nova Pulmonaria article and pictures featured in American Nurseryman in September. Speaking in Connecticut and Maryland in November.

2000 - Great sales, more collection trips, many talks, more awards, and added to breeding and sales departments.

• Jan 28 - "4 Great Genera" New England Grows (Boston, Massachusetts).
• Feb 26 - "Colorful Companions" Horticulture Magazine Lecture - Cranbrook Gardens Auxiliary (Troy, Michigan).
• Feb 29 - "Colorful Companions" Horticulture Magazine Lecture - Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, Wisconsin).
• March 2 - "Colorful Companions" Horticulture Magazine Lecture - Cleveland Botanical Garden (Cleveland, Ohio).
• March 4 - "Colorful Companions" Horticulture Magazine Lecture - Winterthur Museum (Winterthur, Delaware).
• May 16 - "Variegated American Plants" (Gotenba, Japan).
• August 5 - "New Plant Introductions" Perennial Plant Association (Toronto, Ontario, Canada).
• August 13-18 - International Stauden Union Copenhagen (Denmark).
• August 19 - "4 Fabulous Genera" (Gøthenborg, Sweden).
• October 10-13 - Lecture and class (Four Fabulous Genera) at Chicago Botanic Garden.
• October 15 - New England Greenhouse Growers Presentation on 'New Vegetative Perennials' (Boston).
• November – Chicago Botanic Garden "Shade Gardening" and taught "Heuchera, Tiarella, and Pulmonaria" Collecting trip to Japan completed. Photography and plant collection (Fukushima, Kowaguchi, Nagoya, Maibara, Kobe).
• Visits with many small specialty nurseries.

• Martha Stewart Article on Heuchera featured our nursery and plants.
  Hosted several groups of Japanese nurserymen and the Proven Winners North America and European affiliates.
• Start of tetraploidy projects with Dr. Harini Koripala at the helm.
• Photoshoots by Martha Stewart and Floragraphics.
• Collecting and research trip to deep south with Chuck Pavlich.
• Visits to trials in Ga. (Alan Armitage) and numerous nurseries.
• TV appearances in Illinois, Tennessee, and Oregon. Special slideshow presentation in Mjukebjerg, Denmark at the ISU.
• Visited a number of fascinating nurseries in Denmark, one does tissue culture on water plants!
• Dan Heims spoke in Sweden and was a guest of Director Henrik Zetterlund for a behind the scenes tour of Gøthenborg (pronounced ‘yo-te-bor-ie’) one of the top 10 European botanical gardens.
• Finished article on Foamflowers for Fine Gardening Magazine.
• Special Tricyrtis article written and published in Plants Magazine.
  Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly' featured at Hardy’s Gold Medal winning booth at RHS Chelsea show.
• Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly' won a medal at Plantarium in Holland and was featured in the RHS publication, 'The Garden'.
• 2 other medals won with Terra Nova Plants at Plantarium.
• Hosted Japanese nurserymen at the nursery in conjunction with the Farwest Nursery Show.
• Thierry Delabroye submitted our Tiarella 'Ninja' at Courson - France’s largest Horticultural Exposition – to win a coveted Silver Medal.
• Speaking engagements completed in Alaska (Alaska Rock Garden Society and Homer Garden Club), Arkansas Flower and Garden Show, Shady Oaks Hosta Society - Nebraska, New York Botanic Garden (2 courses taught), Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons, N. American Rock Garden Society- Willamette Chapter, NW Hosta and Shade Garden Society.
• 2 articles with photography published in American Nurseryman magazine.
• Article printed in Fine Gardening on Tissue Culture.
• Greenhouse expansion and stock bed expansion completed. ’99 breeding program begun.
• Trip to UK completed see RHS-Chelsea and do a collection run to Devon.
• RHS Wisley undergoing trials for 200 Heuchera, many of which were contributed by Terra Nova.

2001 - Purchased 2 new pieces of property for development, quadrupling their space. Nursery expansion continued. Numerous new awards.

• Jan 25 "Shade Gardening with New Perennials" - "New Plants from Around the World" (Mid Am tradeshow).
• Awarded the Theodore Klein Plant Award in Kentucky.
• Tiarella article written by Dan was published in April Fine Gardening Magazine.
  Article published in the book "Variegated Plants in Color" Vol. 2 on Variegated Heuchera.
• Trade and speaking trip to Germany and Holland.
• Speaking on "Plant sourcing and Marketing" and "Colorful Companions" in Tasmania and New South Wales, Australia.
• Civic Garden Centre in Toronto, Ontario.
• HGTV appearance at the Royal Botanic Gardens with Kathy Renwahl.
  Radio interview on HGTV.
• Local appearance at Poppybox Gardens.
• Plants featured in Landscape Trades Magazine.
• Speaking at the International Daylily convention in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania in October.
• Just purchased 2 new pieces of property for development, quadrupling our space. Nursery expansion continues.
• PPA presentation. Ohio Short Course. Garden Writers of America trade show.
• Winner of a Gold Medal at Keukenhof 2001 in Holland.
• Winner of a Gold Certificate at Coursonne in France for Heuchera 'Can Can'.
• Winner of 'Best of Show' with Heuchera 'Amber Waves' at the UK’s largest nursery show - Four Oaks. Winner of 9 Awards of Garden Merit at the Royal Botanical Garden at Wisley.
• Winner of "Best New Product" at the Scotgrow show in Scotland.
• Presented at the Southern Plant Conference ( a SNA sponsored biennial event). Spoke at Lilyhemmer regional Daylily conference.

More of Dan Heims' activities in representing Terra Nova Nurseries follow.

Plant Collecting / Research Trips: Arkansas Australia British Columbia California Connecticut Costa Rica Delaware Denmark England Florida Georgia Germany Hawaii Holland Illinois Ireland Israel Japan Maine Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Nebraska New Hampshire New York New Zealand North Carolina Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina Sweden Tasmania Tennessee Wales Washington West Virginia Dan far afield (photo): "The plant was a Bomarea - an especially showy form from the banks of Mt. Poas, an active volcano in Costa Rica (elev. 3,500 ft.) It's a climbing relative of Alstroemeria and is hardy in the NW and California." Published photography/feature articles in: American Nurseryman Better Homes & Gardens Canadian Gardening Country Living Gardener Fine Gardening Garden Gate Garden Showcase Gardens West GM Pro Greenhouse Grower Horticulture Magazine Martha Stewart Living (Dan Hinkley as writer) New and Rare Plants (UK rare plant magazine) NM Pro OAN Digger Organic Gardening Southern Living Sunset Magazine The Oregonian