Adkins Arboretum

The High & Wides to Headline Adkins Arboretum Beer Garden September 28

September 7, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

Local beer, fresh seafood, ice cream and music by The High & Wides are all on tap when Adkins Arboretum hosts its second annual Beer Garden on Sat., Sept. 28.

Like the large-haul trains for which the band is named, The High & Wides project a big, driving sound—mountain music reimagined for a new century. Regional favorites hailing from Chestertown, the group released its debut album, Lifted, to widespread acclaim in 2018. Dubbed the “apostles of hillbilly boogie” by The Washington Post, the group draws from its members’ extensive bluegrass backgrounds to take the music to a place all their own, recalling an era when old-time, rockabilly and proto-rock ‘n’ roll coexisted in a murky soup of hillbilly string band music.

Photos courtesy of The High & Wides

Centreville’s Bull & Goat Brewery will be pulling premium craft beer and homemade root beer, complemented by fresh seafood from Centreville’s family-owned Bay Shore Steam Pot and small-batch “cow to cup” ice cream served by American Corner’s Nice Farms Creamery.

The Beer Garden runs from 4 to 6 p.m. As the day cools down, guests can dance to the band, take a woodland walk or join in games. Admission is $10 in advance and $15 at the door for adults, $5 for children ages 3 to 18 and free for children ages 2 and under. Beer and food are an additional fee. Seating is limited; please bring chairs or blankets to enjoy the event.

Advance registration is appreciated. To register, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. Open year round, the Arboretum offers educational programs for all ages about nature and gardening. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Adkins Arboretum Announces Fall Open House and Native Plant Sale

August 23, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

Enjoy fall in the garden! Adkins Arboretum will hold its annual Fall Open House and Native Plant Sale Fri. through Sun., Sept. 6–8 at the Arboretum in Ridgely, Md. The sale will be held at the Visitor’s Center.

Fall is the best season for planting, and the Arboretum offers the Chesapeake region’s largest selection of ornamental native trees, shrubs, perennials, ferns and grasses for the fall landscape. Many native plants produce seeds, flowers and fruit in fall that attract migratory birds and butterflies. Brilliant orange butterfly weed and stunning red cardinal flower attract pollinators to the garden, while native asters add subtle shades of purple and blue. Redbud and dogwood dot the early-spring landscape with color, and shrubs such as aronia and beautyberry provide food and habitat for wildlife.

Native asters add color to the fall landscape and attract pollinators to the garden. Photo by Kellen McCluskey.

Open House hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 6 and Sat., Sept. 7 and noon to 4 p.m. on Sun., Sept. 8. Following the Open House, plants will be sold through fall at the Visitor’s Center.

Members receive a significant discount on plant purchases. Presale plant orders, including a ready-to-plant pollinator garden pack, will be accepted at adkinsarboretum.org through Thurs., Aug. 22 and may be picked up anytime during the Open House weekend.

Proceeds from plants sold at the Fall Open House benefit the Arboretum’s education programs. For more information, call 410-634-2847, extension 0 or visit adkinsarboretum.org.

Tidal, Mixed Media Works by Alison Cooley, on View at Adkins Arboretum

August 2, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

There’s something dazzling about the pure, carefree joy of Alison Cooley’s mixed media paintings in her exhibit, Tidal, on view at Adkins Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center through Sept. 27. Although abstract, their watery pools of deep, luscious color and the needle-thin lines that scribble and loop across their surfaces conjure seaweed swirling under the waves, wind-whipped grasses and the sweeping movement of flocks of birds or schools of fish. There will be a reception to meet the artist on Sat., Aug. 10 from 3 to 5 p.m.

Artwork by Alison Cooley

Cooley has long been fascinated with the ever-changing margins where water meets land.

“I am always drawn to the edges of land,” she said. “I lived for 14 years on Nantucket Island, and now my studio in Easton is near the water. Even when I lived in cities, I was close to the rivers. The immediacy and intensity of weather and water continue to be a big theme for me.”

Everything is in motion in these paintings. As if glimpsed in a fleeting moment of change, the lush pools of emerald, turquoise and inky blue in “Tidal 7175” seem to billow out of the pure white of the paper. Skinny colored lines make gawky ovals that skitter by on top, while tiny doodles bubble up here and there. The effect is comic, beautiful and as exhilarating as a walk on the beach. You can almost feel the refreshing chill of foamy water streaming around your ankles.

Cooley paints and draws with acrylic ink, oil pastel, pencil, pen and marker. Whether on large gessoed panels or on yupo paper, a super-smooth, waterproof polypropylene paper, she works on ultra-smooth surfaces that allow her ink to flow and bloom with seemingly effortless ease. Like some of the artists she admires, including Helen Frankenthaler, Franz Kline and Cy Twombly, Cooley works spontaneously, listening to music as she mixes drawing and painting techniques in deceptively casual dialogues between color and linework, texture and smoothness, tension and flow.

“I start my work by staining the panel or paper with pools of ink,” she explained. “I find layering, marking and untangling forms an intuitive process, so I move from piece to piece. Sound and music are a huge part of my practice. In the end, I think less about painting and more about being in balance with the harmonies and rhythms of the music or the subtle noises from outside.”

Each of Cooley’s paintings is a wild dance of rich, earthy spills of paint mingling with swooping linework and gatherings of tiny marks. Full of fascinating details that sometimes look almost like what you might find in a tidal pool, sometimes like handwritten secret messages, they allow for many interpretations. But, like both music and nature, each is an energetic balancing act between change and continuity.

Asked what she hopes people will get from her paintings, Cooley said she prefers they form their own ideas, but that they may have “a feeling of the beautiful and relentless cycle of nature and, in larger strokes: harmony and dissonance, certainty and illusion.”

This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Sept. 27 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410–634–2847, ext. 0 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.

Adkins Arboretum Graduates Master Naturalist Class

July 30, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

In June, Adkins Arboretum graduated its 2018-2019 class of Maryland Master Naturalist interns. Geared toward the study of the coastal plain, the program provides training for volunteers to learn and share knowledge of the natural world in Maryland and engages citizens as stewards of Maryland’s natural ecosystems and resources through science-based education and volunteer service in their communities. The Arboretum offers Master Naturalist training annually in partnership with Pickering Creek Audubon Center, Phillips Wharf Environmental Center and ShoreRivers.

Pictured are (front row, left to right) Mary Drake, Denise DeOrio, Sue Hauser, Robin Page, Lianna Gomori-Ruben and Gail Raty. Back row, left to right, are Samantha Baker, Mike Morgan, Adkins Assistant Director and Master Naturalist Facilitator Jenny Houghton, Dorie Coleman, Deborah Colborn, Eric Mills, Vivian Stacy, Laura Bittinger, Laura Lindsay, Sara Robins, Susan Green, Dolores Engle and Greg DeCowsky.

Individuals accepted into Master Naturalist training receive 60 hours of instruction, including hands-on outdoors experience. All classes are taught by experts in the subject. The curriculum includes sessions on Maryland’s natural history, flora and fauna, principles of ecology, human interaction with the landscape, and teaching and interpretation. Following training, participants serve in their communities as University of Maryland Extension volunteers.

Applications are being accepted for the 2019-2020 Master Naturalist class. Training sessions will be held monthly from October to July. The program fee is $250. For more information or to apply for the Master Naturalist program, contact Jenny Houghton at 410-634-2847, ext. 23 or jhoughton@adkinsarboretum.org, or visit extension.umd.edu/masternaturalist.

Adkins Arboretum Completes Parking Lot Alive!

July 16, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

June marked the completion of Parking Lot Alive!, a parking lot retrofit project at Adkins Arboretum. The project transformed a barren sea of asphalt into a parking lot that demonstrates best practices for managing stormwater and benefits from lush plantings and added shade.

Over the span of four months, Unity Landscape Design/Build implemented a design by Campion Hruby Landscape Architects and DesignGreen, LLC to create a beautiful, functional and innovative cultivated garden designed as a series of stormwater management devices. The parking lot is now outfitted with six erosion sediment control devices and seven additional planted gardens. Eleven areas throughout the lot have been densely planted with 17,000 native plants.

Areas of the lot were excavated and regraded to help direct stormwater, slow its flow and allow it to be absorbed into the landscape instead of flowing unchecked to the Arboretum wetland, Blockston Branch, the Choptank River and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay. Asphalt was removed and replaced with permeable pavers that also function as a pathway to the entrance bridge. An underground hydraulic bridge connects some of the gardens and now serves as an overflow redundancy for heavy rain events. The past month’s heavy rains have been held by planted swales that allow the rainfall to gradually percolate and transpire.

Photo by Kellen McCluskey

The dense plantings of trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials have already attracted numerous species of birds and pollinators and will offer much-needed shade once they become established. A broad variety of native plants was selected for both dry and wet conditions, and plants were installed densely to reduce weed pressure.

Arboretum volunteers assisted in planting five of the garden beds and continue to help keep weeds at bay. Volunteers and staff have already dedicated more than 300 hours to planting and caring for the gardens. The public is invited to visit, enjoy the gardens and learn about best practices for managing stormwater.

Parking Lot Alive! was funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust G3 Implementation Phase Grant Program and the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays 2010 Trust Fund. The Arboretum has been fortunate to partner with project designers Campion Hruby Landscape Architects and Design Green, LLC and contractors Unity Landscape Design/Build, and to consult with the Caroline County Department of Planning and Codes and the University of Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program.

Project WILD Professional Development is Aug. 3 at Adkins Arboretum

July 12, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

Adkins Arboretum will host Project WILD, a professional development workshop about wildlife and conservation, for K–12 teachers on Sat., Aug. 3 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Presented by Kerry Wixted, wildlife education and outreach specialist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the workshop is perfect for teachers in both formal and informal settings, as well as anyone with an interest in environmental education.

A project of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Project WILD is dedicated to helping students learn how to think, not what to think, about wildlife and the environment. All curriculum materials are back by sound education practices and theory and represent the work of many within the fields of education and natural resource management from across the country.

The workshop will cover pollination, field investigations, inquiry-based learning and more. All participants will receive two free Project WILD guides filled with more than 100 lesson plans. The course counts as professional development for Maryland Green Schools and for Maryland Master Naturalists.

The Project WILD workshop is $25 for Arboretum members and $30 for non-members. Advance registration is required at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

July Pollinator Programs at Adkins Arboretum

July 6, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

Solitary bee. Photo courtesy of Pollinators Prospering People.

Adkins Arboretum will host a trio of programs this month aimed at educating about pollinators, their needs and ways to increase their vital habitat. All programs will be led by Melinda Fegler and Lindsay Hollister of Pollinators Prospering People (PX3), a nonprofit dedicated to promoting sustainable pollinator habitat. Programs include:

Befriending Bumblebees, 1–4 p.m. on Sun., July 14. Learn about the bumble’s importance for wildlife and for humans’ edible gardens. Participants will learn Maryland bumble ID and how to design a garden to attract bumblebees, as well as build a bumblebee hive box.

Solitary Bee Beginnings, 1–4 p.m. on Sun., July 21. What is a solitary bee? Learn about the ecology, life cycles and groupings of these lone workers. Participants will also learn about garden additions for solitary bees, build a solitary bee condo and practice identification.

Caterpillars to Butterflies, 1–4 p.m. on Sun., July 28. Learn about the mysteries of and threats to these beautiful pollinators and the important role they play in the natural world. Participants will build a chrysalis tree, learn to use identification resources and practice skills during a NABA butterfly count.

Each program is $35 for Arboretum members and $40 for non-members. All three sessions count as continuing education for Master Gardeners and for Maryland Master Naturalists. Advance registration is required at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Wild Lines, Environmental Sculpture by Howard and Mary McCoy, at Adkins Arboretum

June 12, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

“Scribble 1,” a sculpture comprising bittersweet vines and ironwood tree trunks, is part of Wild Lines, an outdoor environmental sculpture show by Centreville artists Howard and Mary McCoy. The show is on view through September at Adkins Arboretum.

Twirled around trees or swirling up from the forest floor, vines are the only materials environmental artists Howard and Mary McCoy used to create sculptures for Wild Lines, their outdoor show on view through Sept. 30 at Adkins Arboretum. On Sat., June 22, as part of a reception from 3 to 5 p.m. in conjunction with painter Lani Browning’s exhibit in the Visitor’s Center, the McCoys will lead a sculpture walk and talk about how their work was inspired by the vines growing in the Arboretum’s forest.

“We came day after day with a ladder and some tools to cut vines and pull them out of the trees,” said Mary McCoy. “Instant art materials. You see them everywhere, sweeping up into the trees and doing twists and turns from one branch to the next, just like 3-D drawings or writing. We’ve picked up on that and turned them into sculptures that mimic nature’s creativity, but in some slightly different ways.”

These two Centreville artists have been making site-specific sculptures in the Arboretum forest every other year for the past 20 years. In their recent shows, they’ve come to use only the materials they can find in the forest itself and chose this year to use vines exclusively.

Howard McCoy explained, “We work with the natural shapes of each vine, letting the curves and angles dictate how the piece proceeds or evolves, so it’s a real collaboration with nature. The way we’ve used them says something about the characteristics of the vines, like the grapevines are so thick and sturdy, you can’t bend them too far or they’ll break, but with bittersweet or honeysuckle, you can create some pretty tight curves.”

Standing right beside one of the wooden bridges spanning the Arboretum’s creek, “Scribble 1” is a three-dimensional doodle of bittersweet vines whirling back and forth around the twin trunks of an ironwood tree. Farther down the trail, several muscular grapevines form “Loop-de-loop.” Curved and twisted like giant knots, these dark brown vines contrast with the pale bark of the triple-trunked white oak where they are nestled.

The McCoys are fascinated by how natural forces are made visible every time a vine begins to grow up a tree. Even as it climbs a trunk, stretching up toward the sun, gravity is pulling it downward. Swirls and loops develop as the vine reaches to find one branch, then another where it can secure its hold. As it grows, its linear shapes evolve into a dance between gravity, stability and the urge for sunlight.

“Some of the visitors walking by when we were winding all these vines up into sculptures seemed to think we were a bit eccentric,” said Mary, laughing, “but nature does some even more bizarre things with vines. Sometimes they wrap all around themselves in incredible tangles, sometimes they make beautiful huge sweeps up into the trees, sometimes they wrap around the trees so tightly they actually distort the way the trees grow.”

Vines can take on phantasmagorical shapes, but they also threaten the life of the trees that support them. Their leaves can shade the tree’s leaves so that it can’t adequately photosynthesize, and their weight often breaks branches and pulls whole trees to the ground.

“We’re doing two things,” Howard said. “We’re helping the trees by getting those vines out of them, and then making sculpture with that material, so it’s a win-win situation. The trees are saved, and we get to make art.”

This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Sept. 30 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410–634–2847, ext. 0 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.

Floral Paintings by Lani Browning on View Through July at Adkins Arboretum

June 6, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

So lush, delicate and exquisitely colored that you can almost smell them, Lani Browning’s floral oil paintings on linen fill the gallery in Adkins Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center. This Centreville artist is well known for her award-winning landscape paintings, but in her show Bloom, on view through July 26, she focuses exclusively on flowers. There will be a reception to meet the artist on Sat., June 22 from 3 to 5 p.m.

“I simply love flowers,” Browning said. “Always have. They make me happy. I’m enjoying a more intimate way of expressing myself by observing flowers and ‘listening’ to their stories.”

It’s a tribute to Browning’s exceptional skills as a painter that each of the flowers she paints is an individual. Each blossom in her “Casablanca Lilies” seems to reach out with its own particular animated gesture, and each is at a different stage in its development. The multicolored flowers in “Daffodils” appear to be engaged in a lively conversation, and every tiny, purplish floret in “Redbud” seems to be dancing with those around it.

Browning is a master at rendering exquisite shading and the subtleties of light and shadow with loose, deceptively casual brushstrokes. She deftly captures the intricacy and nuances of each five-petaled flower in the billowing branches of “Cherry Blossoms.” While the foreground blossoms catch the light on their delicate, pale pink petals, those behind fade back into the shadows, becoming more mysterious and impressionistic as they recede into the distance.

Browning explained, “I am interested in the flowers as personalities—the elegance of a rose, the perkiness of a daffodil, the romance of a peony—and playing with how they ‘emerge’ in my field of vision, thus the ‘pulling in and out’ of details.”

“Cherry Blossoms” by Lani Browning

There’s a glow to Browning’s flowers that makes them feel distinctly alive. Many are caught in the act of opening their petals, and the stems of those in full flower bend just a little, bringing to mind the phrase “heavy with blossom.”

“I paint the flowers from life,” Browning said. “It’s a challenge inside or outside. You must paint quickly! I rarely cut them unless there is an abundance of blossoms and/or a storm is coming. When I do cut them for a vase, it allows me to study them more closely, and my studio is filled with heavenly fragrance.”

Adding to a long list of honors, Browning recently won an award from the Oil Painters of America for her luminous painting “Hydrangeas,” which was included in its National Spring Online Exhibition, as well as in the Adkins show, and a People’s Choice Award from Chestertown RiverArts for her landscape “Chesapeake Environmental Center” in its Art of Stewardship Exhibit.

Despite her current focus on flowers, Browning continues to paint landscapes, finding particular inspiration in the Eastern Shore skies and water reflections and sometimes traveling to Cape Henlopen to paint the waves or even to Chestertown’s Downrigging festival to work on her series of paintings of the tall ship Kalmar Nyckel.

“The main thing is I like to change things up,” she said. “Tackle things I haven’t fully explored while still keeping my hand in those subjects that I’m more known for. I don’t like to repeat myself.”

This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through July 26 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410–634–2847, ext. 0 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.

Adkins Arboretum’s Medieval Forest Fair

May 31, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum

Revel in a day of forest fun when Adkins Arboretum celebrates its second annual Medieval Forest Faire from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sat., June 15. Inspired by legends and lore of the medieval period, Forest Faire offers a wide variety of activities and entertainment for families in search of outdoor fun.

Adventurers of all ages are invited to embark on a forest quest and search among the trees for the Green Man of the ancient Celts. Some of the many activities planned include building with wattle and daub, guided foraging, archery practice, a labyrinth, cooking pottage over a campfire, medieval crafts and constructing “castles” with sections of tree stumps.

Medieval ballads and madrigals will be performed throughout the day by Ampersand and the Allegro Women’s Chorus. Fortunetelling and demonstrations by a local falconer will be ongoing, and the festivities will close with sword dancing by the Sammati Dance Company of Caroline County.

A local peasant (Shane Brill of Chestertown, at center) leads a discussion on foraging at Adkins Arboretum’s 2018 Forest Faire. Forest adventurers of all ages are invited to attend this year’s Medieval Forest Faire on Sat., June 15 from 11 to 3. Photo by Kellen McCluskey.

Fairegoers are encouraged to wear Camelot-inspired costumes and to bring their cameras for photos with notable nobles. Unicorn rides by Snapdragon Stables and refreshments, including ice cream by local Nice Farms Creamery, will be available for purchase.

Admission to Forest Faire is $10 per person for adults and children ages 6 and over. Children ages 5 and under are admitted free. Advance registration is appreciated. To register, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

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