Larry Lael, co-owner of Lael's Moon Garden Nursery with his wife, Bethany, attempts to untie a ribbon around a pink lemonade blueberry plant on Monday at Lael's Moon Garden Nursery in Rochester.
Bethany Lael pulls a pink lemonade blueberry from a plant at Lael's Moon Garden Nursery on Monday in Rochester.
Larry Lael shows a strawberry that he just pulled from one of the plants at Lael's Moon Garden Nursery in Rochester on Monday.
Different varieties of tomatoes are seen at Lael's Moon Garden Nursery in Rochester on Monday.
Larry Lael shows a pepper plant at Lael's Moon Garden Nursery in Rochester on Monday.
Larry Lael, left, and his wife, Bethany, pick through strawberry plants at Lael's Moon Garden Nursery in Rochester on Monday.
A sequoia redwood tree is seen at Lael's Moon Garden Nursery in Rochester on Monday.
Bethany Lael shows off an oak tree with plants underneath it at Lael's Moon Garden and Nursery in Rochester on Monday.
Larry Lael, and his wife, Bethany, look at flowers at the entrance to their nursery, Lael's Moon Garden Nursery, in Rochester on Monday morning.
Bethany Lael tends to flowers at Lael's Moon Garden and Nursery in Rochester on Monday.
ROCHESTER — Most blind dates don’t result in marriage and most hobbies don’t turn into booming businesses, but Larry and Bethany Lael of Rochester beat the odds on both counts.
The couple met on Valentine’s Day in 1995 when a mutual friend set them up.
“We just clicked immediately,” said Larry, a former employee of the state’s college board.
He and Bethany, a former budget director for the state parks department, found they had many things in common but, most importantly, they shared a passion for plants.
After they married, the pair started Lael’s Moon Garden Nursery in 1999. The business now sells more than 6,000 plants a year and boasts four employees.
The couple built the 4 1/2 acre display and test garden and nursery on the property Larry had been gardening for more than 35 years.
“I had the gardening bug long before the nursery bug,” he said. “It’s a hobby that has gotten out of control.”
Today, the couple travels to garden shows throughout the region and brings back plants to test.
“I don’t want ‘em dying in your yard,” Bethany explained. “We try to buy local when we can not only because the plants habituate to our area but also to keep transportation costs down.”
The Laels like to make sure a particular variety, like the Oregon fuchsias they’re currently testing, can withstand the area’s winter.
“This past winter, despite the snow, wasn’t much of a test of who’s naughty and who’s nice,” Larry said.
Lael’s Moon Garden Nursery was named for its location on Moon Road in Rochester, but since customers are always asking the couple is working on an actual moon garden as part of their display.
They are planting fragrant plants that will stand out in the moonlight and have installed a fish pond in one area.
The property also includes a Japanese garden complete with a Buddha statue.
“My other disease is rocks,” Larry said.
The garden is full of colorful rocks from all over the world including turquoise from Arizona and coral from the Caribbean.
“It’s a way of remembering your travels,” Bethany said.
In addition, the pair tends an all-organic vegetable garden, from which they sell tomatoes, peppers, blueberries and strawberries.
“They’re so much more flavorful than commercially grown,” Bethany said.
The couple mixes plants which will bloom at different times of the year so something is always coloring the space, a process they’ve learned through trial and error over the years.
The Laels send out a newsletter and have information about gardening online on their website.
“That way everybody doesn’t have to start from scratch,” Bethany said.
Bethany likes to share the things she has learned since she started gardening on her grandmother’s farm as a kid.
“On grandma’s farm you worked,” she said smiling.
Larry’s mother, an avid gardener, passed down the green thumb when she gave him hens and chicks plant when he was just a boy.
“They’re just trouble free and I thought it was cool that I could just set them down and they’d grow,” he said.
Today, the couple makes their living selling more than 1,000 plant varieties for anywhere from $3 to $300. In addition, they sell ceramic pots and garden art.
“We focus on things the average person can afford, especially new home owners,” Bethany said.
The Laels even help clients customize their yard.
“We’re small enough that we get to know our customers,” Bethany said.
The couple’s son, Dan, has also gotten into the family business by opening Lael’s Landscape & Stone Supply on Reynolds Avenue in Centralia.
“He got into it by osmosis around here,” Larry joked. “Plants are like kids, you have to feed and water them.”
The Laels spend their summers watering and get a much needed break when nature takes care of their plants with the winter rains.
“As you can see, I’ve been planting for years and it’s never done,” said Larry, who turns 75 on Sunday. “That’s the fun of it.”
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Amy Nile: (360) 807-8235
