Starring Oregon Nursery Products!

Starring Oregon Nursery Products! I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

The action film is called “47 Ronin” and depicts a group of samurai warriors in 18th century Japan. The producers wanted the set to capture the time and place.

YOSHIOKA:  When they were searching for plants for the movie, they were looking for something that would represent ancient Kyoto plant life. They contacted a consultant here in Oregon and he knew that Oregon nursery products would be a very good fit.

Theresa Yoshioka of the Oregon Department of Agriculture says the movie producers worked with horticulturalist Don Richards to find the perfect trees and shrubs.

YOSHIOKA:  Nowadays with HDTV, movies need to have real plants rather than fake ones. They are looking to major nursery producing states such as Oregon for those plants.

The consultant purchased plant material from four Portland-area nurseries to satisfy the movie producers. Watch the movie closely and you’ll see Japanese maples, red pines, hydrangeas, and sword fern among other plants grown in Oregon. While the movie provided a unique opportunity because of its specific need for what is produced in Oregon, there is more potential for the state’s nursery products to end up on the silver screen, especially if those movies are actually shot in Oregon. Yoshioka says Oregon’s nursery industry can provide a lot of what Hollywood may need for its motion pictures.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.