Behnkes Potomac Florist Shop History

The garden center sits on 5.9 acres, part of which Behnke's shares with "Behnkes Landscape and Design Division". This allows customers to get quality plants and installation at the same time.

Records show that the area was farmland in the 1700's, and later an orchard. Originally called Linda's and then the Potomac Garden Center, it was opened by the Hahn family in the 1940's, in what was still essentially a rural area.

Potomac retained this rural flavor through the 1950's, as Maryland's " country." Through the years, much of the original land was subdivided for houses, although the garden center was granted an exception to remain. In 1983, the garden center was sold to new owners, and renamed Potomac Nursery. A landscape division and other amenities were added over the years. In 1998 Behnke's acquired the property.

Behnkes Florist Shop

The house on the south side of the property was the office of the original garden center. In those early days, the Hahn family lived upstairs. By the 1990's, having fallen into somewhat of a state of disrepair, it served as a Halloween haunted house. Behnke's has converted this building into a "Florist Shop". Future plans call for renovation of the existing attached greenhouse in order to extend the florist display area, perhaps creating a pleasant place to sit and linger in the fragrance and beauty of fresh-cut flowers. The florist maintains an excellent selection of unusual fresh flowers, both for walk-in sales and delivery.