How five friends gave a historic garden center new life

For 100 years, Abernethy & Spencer Greenhouse & Garden Center’s spring opening has ushered in the season. This year, however, the opening represents a fresh start for its new owners, too. Bentley “E.B.” Gregg and his son, G. Holmes Gregg, originally opened the nursery in 1925 under the name Hill Top Plant Gardens. Between 1974 and 1997 — when David Lohmann purchased it and renamed it Abernethy & Spencer — it changed hands several times.

Then in 2024, Jim and Autumn Knowles, Jacob Baker, Hillary Pennington, and Matt Lamberski — five friends who live in Loudoun County — decided to buy the Purcellville property. The group came from different professional backgrounds, but they were all focused on preserving a piece of history while cultivating a new career path for themselves.

Baker worked in home technology. Jim Knowles, a plant enthusiast since age 12 and an Abernethy customer for 25 years, has a health care background. His wife, Autumn, ran a farm and was also an avid gardener. Lamberski owned an estate garden maintenance business.

Pennington, Baker’s wife, was a funeral director for 20 years, most recently at Adams-Green Funeral Home in Herndon. She first learned about that line of work at a high school career day. “I came home and told my parents that’s what I wanted to do for a living,” she says. “I just thought it was interesting and fascinating.”