Visit Mount Cuba Center

Osmunda regalis; Royal Fern; Mount Cuba Center, DE; plus turtles

So many things to do in Spring. You should make one of them a visit to the Mount Cuba Center in Delaware.

One of the DuPont properties become garden-visit destinations, like Longwood Gardens and Winterthur, this one has become a premier native plant garden and research facility. The woodland garden is spectacular in spring, with many species of trilliums and other ephemerals in bloom.

Strolling through the garden (well, if a stroll includes a stop every five feet to take a photo), I kept saying, “Wow. I wish my garden looked like that.” You might stop for awhile along the trail at Hobson Pond, admire the ferns, and smile at the turtles.

A visit in summer or fall should include a look at the trial gardens, where cultivars of native perennials are planted out and evaluated for performance under Mid-Atlantic growing conditions. Reports of trials for Coreopsis, Echinacea, Amsonia and others are on the website.

Larry Hurley

Larry Hurley worked at Behnke Nurseries from 1984 until the business was composted in 2019, primarily with the perennial department in growing, buying and sales.

Before landing at Behnke’s, he worked as a technician in a tissue culture lab, a houseplant “expert” at a florist shop, and inventory controller at a wholesale nursery in Dallas. With this and that, ten years passed.

When his wife Carolyn accepted a position at Georgetown University, Larry was hired at Behnke’s for the perennial growing department and garden center at Behnke’s Largo location.

In 2021, Larry and Carolyn moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to family and further from traffic. After 37 years in a shaded yard in Maryland, he is happy to have a sunny lot where he can grow all sorts of new perennials, if only he can keep the rabbits at bay. He also enjoys cooking, traveling, and the snowblower.