Photo Of The Week by Larry Hurley: Serendipity

July 30, 2024
Larry Hurley
Behnkes History, Inspiration, Landscaping, Shrubs and Trees
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Montgomery' Blue Spruce with Virgina Creeper Vine

Serendipity. Something unintended resulting in a pleasing plant combination. The photo below was taken at Behnke Nurseries in Beltsville on October 20, 2020, about 15 months after the nursery closed to the public. At the time the photo was taken, the Covid-19 Pandemic was raging, and just about everything else was closed as well. Occasionally a few of the old Behnke employees would meet up at the property, masked of course, and walk around the grounds and closed buildings and wonder if things would ever get back to normal.

Near where my office had been in the former Dawn Rose building on the north end of the Behnke property, there was a display garden with a mature ‘Montgomery’ Blue Spruce. With no one weeding any more, a native Virginia Creeper vine was growing on the spruce, and I thought the red fall foliage color of the ivy was a pretty contrast to the blue of the spruce needles. I love plants, but I have absolutely no design sense beyond “try to put the shorter plants in the front.” So almost any pleasing combination in my own gardening comes from serendipity.

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.