With the plethora of plants in gardens dotted throughout Greenbelt, it is no surprise that the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., is a popular nearby attraction for Greenbelt residents. What may be unexpected is that one of Greenbelt’s own is in charge of the Asian Collections and has worked at the Arboretum for over 30 years.
Carole Bordelon moved to Greenbelt in 1979 after meeting her husband, Mike, at the University of Maryland. He soon took a job at Behnke Nurseries in Beltsville. At the time, housing in Greenbelt Homes Inc. was merely an affordable place to live for the newlyweds. A decade later, they had grown to like the community so much that they decided to buy a home with a quarter acre of yard in Lakewood where they could plant a large, diverse home garden.
Meanwhile, Bordelon worked with the Maryland Department of Agriculture as a mosquito controller and did various odd jobs at the Arboretum. When a gardening position with the Arboretum’s bonsai collection opened up, the staff chose Bordelon, who loves all the tedious work that goes into making plants grow. There she has stayed for more than three decades, ultimately moving into an oversight position in the Asian Collections, which she still holds today.
Read more of this story in the August 8 News Review.
