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July 9, 2025

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

Food and Garden Garden Notes

Summer is for Learning…about Worms!

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Photo by Lilly Willis

Worms! They’re wiggly, they have no eyes and they help a garden grow. That’s just the start of what local kindergarteners learned during their hands-on Summer Cub Club experience on Tuesday, July 11, at Henry Highland Garnet Elementary School.

Summer School at Garnet runs four days a week for three weeks, offering school readiness experiences for Pre-K, Kindergarten and First Graders.

This year’s curriculum, Children Study our World, has a theme of Vegetables and Gardening that proved irresistible to the Chestertown Garden Club. They offered to lead three 40-minute garden activities for 13 Kindergartners each Tuesday.

At each session two garden club members work with Kindergarten teacher Taylor Johnson and instructional aide Lilly Willis.

On the first Tuesday, Garden Club members Penny Block and Susan Flanigan facilitated “Hello, Earthworms!”, introducing the youngsters to live earthworms and how they contribute to garden soil.

“We read aloud from a book about earthworms,” said

Flanigan, “then the kids looked for worms in a tray of soil to observe their behavior”. After the classroom activity, everyone went outside to the school’s raised bed garden where they helped release the worms into the beds and watch them burrow into the soil, then used a rain wand to water their already planted vegetables.

“To illustrate a fun fact,” added Block, “we had the students measure out 10 feet, the length of the longest recorded earthworm!”

Lessons over, each student took home a coloring book about soils and a special snack: an edible “earthworms in a cup” concocted from chocolate pudding, crushed cookie crumbs and gummy worms.

Week two, Tuesday, Jul 19, will feature “Magical Herbs”. Kids will hear about different kinds of herbs, learn how to transplant them, plant some herb seeds, and take home a plant.

Week three, Tuesday, July 26, “Grow your own Pizza”, is sure to be a favorite. The kids will harvest tomatoes, oregano, and basil for pizza toppings, make tortilla mini-pizzas to eat, and bring home a small bag of cherry tomatoes and a recipe card to make more mini-pizzas at home with an adult helper.

Summer school Cub Club is organized by Community Coordinator, Flo Terrill, and Judy Center Coordinator, Beth DeShepper.

It is sponsored by the Kent County Judy Center Partnership, an organization that helps link families with young children to community services and partners with them to increase school readiness.

The Chestertown Garden Club has an ongoing interest in youth gardening and promotion of attractive surroundings in the community. They took the lead in realizing the Good Seeds Garden, a native landscape that now surrounds Garnet School with natural beauty and a teaching environment.

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Adkins Arboretum Announces Fall Native Plant Sale—Online!

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Blue mistflower (Eupatorium coelestinum) adds color to the landscape in summer and fall and is attractive to many species of butterflies. Photo by Kellen McCluskey.

Prepare for fall in the garden! Adkins Arboretum, offering the Chesapeake gardener the best selection of landscape-ready native plants for more than two decades, announces its Fall Native Plant Sale. All proceeds benefit the Arboretum’s rich catalog of education programs that teach about the Delmarva’s native plants and their connection to a healthy Chesapeake Bay.

To ensure the best-quality plants, sales will be conducted entirely online. Orders will be accepted Thurs., July 21 through Thurs., Aug. 11 at adkinsarboretum.org and will be fulfilled via timed, scheduled pickup Sept. 9–10 and Sept. 13–17. There will be no in-person shopping at the Arboretum.

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 chokeberry and beautyberry provide critical habitat for wildlife.

As always, Arboretum members receive a generous discount on plants that varies according to membership level. To join, renew your membership or give an Arboretum membership as a gift, visit adkinsarboretum.org or contact Kellen McCluskey at [email protected].

For more information on plants, purchasing or pickup procedures, visit adkinsarboretum.org, send email to [email protected] 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. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Offers Cyanotype Workshop July 16

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A technique from early days of photography, cyanotype uses the sun to develop a natural emulsion into a vivid blue image that can be further toned and manipulated. Join Adkins Arboretum artist-in-residence Liz Donadio to learn about the Arboretum’s varieties of native plant species and to make your own prints at a cyanotype workshop on Sat., July 16.

Participants will use botanical specimens from around the grounds to make unique images that represent the variety of plant life cultivated at the Arboretum. The workshop runs from noon to 3 p.m. and is $45 for Arboretum members, $60 for non-members. Advance registration is required at adkinsarboretum.org.

Donadio is a Baltimore-based photographer who has been working at the Arboretum since 2018 to create a visual study of the ecology and landscape, over time and throughout changing seasons. Using alternative and camera-less photographic processes, combined with digital techniques, she creates multi-faceted images that are unpredictable and mysterious, much like the natural world itself.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Completes Sustainable Facilities Improvements

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The Rural Maryland Council’s Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Assistance Fund (MAERDAF), the Pinkard family and the France-Merrick Foundation have supported significant improvements at Adkins Arboretum.

For the Love of Trees and a Sustainable Future is a three-prong Adkins initiative to increase the overall energy efficiency of its Visitor’s Center and to leverage these improvements into opportunities to engage and educate the community. Last fall, a $40,000 MAERDAF award helped fund the installation of a mini-split ductless heat pump system that will provide cutting-edge and high-efficiency heating and cooling. As the Arboretum works toward incorporating regenerative systems into its facilities, this project will ensure a sustainable future for both the nonprofit and the community it engages and supports.

The new system provides superior comfort, lower energy costs, zero emissions and ultra-quiet operation. Because this type of system can be installed in both commercial and residential settings, it also provides opportunities to educate staff and visitors about energy efficiency and the link to preserving natural resources.

A high-efficiency, zero-emissions mini-split heating and cooling system is the first in a three-part series of improvements designed to increase sustainability at Adkins Arboretum. The new system was funded with support from the Rural Maryland Council’s Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Assistance Fund, the Pinkard family and the France-Merrick Foundation.

Installation of the mini-split system is the first step toward creating a decarbonized and more sustainable Arboretum. To ensure the new system operates at maximum potential, the Arboretum seeks to improve the Visitor’s Center envelope—the separation of its interior and exterior spaces—by replacing the building’s exterior doors with ADA-compliant doors. The project will eliminate the substantial gaps in the current doors, provide barrier-free access to the Visitor’s Center and improve the building’s seal.

The project’s final goal is to develop a sustainable energy system by installing solar panels. This initiative will generate electricity to power the mini-split system and other Visitor’s Center operations. Signage will inform members and visitors about these multiple and interrelated benefits, as well as the benefits of nature and its link to overall well-being.

Located near Tuckahoe State Park in the heart of Caroline County, the Arboretum strives to inspire environmental stewardship, provide respite and healing and celebrate natural and cultural diversity through the joy and wonder of the natural world. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org.

The Rural Maryland Council (RMC) brings together citizens, community-based organizations, federal, state, county and municipal government officials as well as representatives of the for-profit and nonprofit sectors to collectively address the needs of Rural Maryland communities. RMC provides a venue for members of agriculture and natural resource-based industries, health care facilities, educational institutions, economic and community development organizations, for-profit and nonprofit corporations and government agencies to cross traditional boundaries, share information and address in a more holistic way the special needs and opportunities in Rural Maryland.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

“Wake Up…We Need Everybody” on View at Adkins Arboretum

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The piercing, orange-red eyes of a sharp-shinned hawk stare right into your own eyes in Anna Harding’s exhibit, Wake Up…We Need Everybody. In her exquisite drawings on view through Sept. 3 at the Adkins Arboretum Visitor’s Center, this Easton artist uses her skills as a botanical artist to portray some of the many plants and animals indigenous to Maryland whose existence is at risk due to human activity. There will be a reception to meet the artist on Sat., July 9 from 2 to 4 p.m.

The only human in this captivating show is asleep. In a poignant image titled “Wake Up!” this human figure, drawn in pale gray graphite, sleeps on a bed of roots that tangle down into a colorful, animated assembly of species that includes ten different plants, four birds, two dragonflies, one salamander, two fish, two beetles and three butterflies, all of them at-risk species.

Using ultra-sharp graphite and colored pencils, Harding draws with such astonishing detail and precision that her artworks immediately invite you to step in close for an intimate look. There are dragonflies with gossamer wings, a spirited brown-headed nuthatch perched on a tree trunk, an extinct Maryland darter fish with tiny, intricately patterned scales and the elegant blossoms of a northern pitcher plant hovering above its eccentric jug-like leaves etched with complex webs of dark red veins.

“Backyard Birds 1” is among the works of Easton artist Anna Harding now on view at Adkins Arboretum. Titled Wake Up…We Need Everybody, Harding’s exhibit of botanical art drawings focuses on plants, animals and insects put at risk by human activity.

Each of Harding’s drawings is alive with a sense of wonder. You can practically hear the raucous call of a boat-tailed grackle, and you’ll long to touch the luxuriant texture of a precious underwing moth’s gold and black wings. Again and again, the thought arises: what a loss it would be if these creatures no longer existed.

In her own gentle way, Harding is raising the alarm about the native plants and animals that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has identified as threatened, endangered, extinct or extirpated (purposely destroyed).

As she planned for this show, Harding said, “I thought about how I can spark curiosity about the small things in our backyards and alert people to the conditions of our environment and the impact of human-induced climate and environmental conditions, and maybe inspire them to take some small action that could have a positive effect.”

Botanical art began as a method of plant identification and classification requiring an in-depth knowledge of botany and keen observational skills. While following its tradition of painstaking attention to scientific detail. Harding takes her drawings a step further, focusing on the personality of each plant or animal and hinting at its habits and ways of living.

Although she has been involved in art since her college days, Harding’s passion for botanical art began in 2013, when she started taking botanical art classes with Lee D’Zmura while simultaneously earning a certificate as a Maryland Master Naturalist. She went on to study botanical art with teachers in the U.S. and abroad and, as her skills matured, to teach at Adkins Arboretum.

“I was hooked on the connection between art and science,” Harding said. “It has been a fortuitous melding of my botanical artwork and my interest in the natural environment.

Harding says that the crux of her work is described in a favorite quote from the late poet Mary Oliver: “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

 Wake Up…We Need Everybody is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Sept. 3 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 [email protected] for gallery hours.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Arts in the Garden Friday at Garnet

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H.H. Garnet Elementary School in Chestertown is hosting Arts in the Garden from 5 to 7 p.m. on First Friday. Community members are invited to the Good Seeds Garden at the school to celebrate the arts and watch the unveiling of a mosaic mural sculpture.

The visual arts and music teachers at H.H. Garnet Elementary School invite the community to a special event in the Good Seeds Garden for Chestertown’s First Friday.

Arts in the Garden will celebrate the school and community partnerships in the arts. It will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 3 in the Good Seeds Garden, which is maintained in collaboration with the Chestertown Garden Club.

“This is a chance for us to share a little of what is great about our neighborhood elementary school with our community,” said music teacher Jodi Bortz.

The event will include the unveiling of a mosaic mural sculpture created in collaboration with Kent Cultural Alliance’s visiting artist KaytiDidricksen.

“Our whole school participated in the creation of the mosaic mural birdbath with the artist and it’s going to be exciting to see it completed. What a fantastic collaboration to beautify the garden,” said art teacher Amy Boumiea.

Throughout the garden, student art will be displayed. Students will be performing musical selections throughout the evening.

There also will be fun art-making opportunities, including chalk and coloring.

El ManantialTex Mex food truck will be available for snacks and food.

“This is also an opportunity for us to celebrate our wonderfully dedicated music and art teachers who continue to go above and beyond to give our students an enriched and well-rounded curriculum,” said Florence Terrell, the Community School coordinator at Garnet. “We are so grateful for Mrs. Boumiea and Mrs. Bortz and their connections with the community and our students.”

H.H. Garnet Elementary School is located at 320 Calvert St., Chestertown.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Join Adkins Arboretum on Trip to Philadelphia Flower Show

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Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

A showcase of excellence that dates to 1829, the Philadelphia Flower Show is a top destination and a must-experience horticultural event. On Mon., June 13, join Adkins Arboretum for an unforgettable trip to this year’s show, “In Full Bloom.”

The 2022 Flower Show explores the restorative and healing power of nature and plants while experiencing all that gardening offers to improve our lives. This year’s theme, “In Full Bloom,” connotes good health, positive well-being and a passion for life that culminates in a gorgeous and colorful spectacle. Staged outdoors at FDR Park, it will feature outdoor gardens at the peak of seasonal perfection and beauty to inspire everyone to plan for a better tomorrow.

The Philadelphia Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Flower Show is the nation’s largest and longest-running horticultural event. The show will be packed with a variety of flowers and plants at the peak of seasonal perfection. Visitors can expect 15 acres of spectacular floral and garden displays, educational areas, plant exhibits, shopping, a play area for families and plentiful food and drink options. Hundreds of spectacular native butterflies can also be experienced in the Butterflies Live! exhibit housed in an outdoor pollinator garden structure.

The trip is $105 for Arboretum members and $130 for non-members. The bus departs from Aurora Park Drive in Easton at 9 a.m. and will stop for pickups at the Rt. 50 westbound/Rt. 404 Park and Ride near Wye Mills and the 301/291 Park and Ride in Millington. Return time is 5:30 p.m. Advance registration is required at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 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. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Centreville Farmers’ Market Returns on Lawyers Row Starting May 15th

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As the days become longer and warmer the desire to seek out farm-fresh vegetables and fruits and becomes as much of a need as it does a natural tendency. Sure, you can always turn to your local grocery store in a pinch, there’s nothing like the taste of strawberries that were picked that morning. This basic premise is at the heart of farmers’ markets where customers purchase produce, meats, and value-added products like cheese and honey, and know exactly where it came from.

The Centreville Farmers’ Market continues its tradition and commitment to offering farm-fresh products to local shoppers as it opens its 2022 season on Sunday, May 15th for a 23-week season. The season will extend to October 9th, but will officially cap off the season with a special holiday market on November 13th. The market will be open every Sunday from 9 a.m. to Noon on Lawyers Row, which will be closed to traffic.

Microgreens are a vitamin enriched superfood available at the Centreville Farmers’ Market thanks to Fat and Happy Farms of Grasonville. Stop by their stand at the market and try some. Chances are you’ll get to meet Blake Jackson, left, and his brother Dylan, right, who pitch in to help their parents Brien and Jessica Jackson.

The market’s launch will include a special master gardener clinic courtesy of the University of Maryland Extension Master Gardener program. Shoppers can bring plant samples and photos for identification or Get advice on pruning, vegetables, insects, lawns, trees and shrubs and lots more! The master gardeners will visit the market frequently throughout the season.

“We are excited to welcome new vendors and are looking forward to helping our community discover new ways to shop for locally grown and crafted food as well as embrace a sustainable way of living,” says Hannah Combs, Centreville Farmers’ Market Operations Manager.

The Centreville Farmers’ Market is still accepting vendor applications as well as food truck and musician inquiries. The farmers and vendors at press time include:

  • A Shore Thing Cakery: breads, muffins, pretzels, crackers, brownies and cookies;
  • Beneventi Botanicals: herbal truffles, gran-free dog treats, lotions, balms, and assorted bath products;
  • Carrie Sue’s Cupcakes: cupcakes and baked goods;
  • Chesapeake Shoppe: handcrafted jewelry and other crafted goods;
  • Craft Bakery & Cafe + Night Kitchen Coffee: sourdough breads, bagels, croissants, danish, scones, cookies, coffee and coffee beans, lemonade and iced tea;
  • Dogwood Lane Dairy: 14 different varieties of handcrafted cheese and peach, strawberry and apple jam;
  • Enoch Farms: pork, ham, scrapple, and sausage;
  • Fat and Happy Farms: microgreens, seasonal produce, herbs, and native perennial flowers;
  • Little Cake Empire: cinnamon buns, bagels and bread;
  • Harris Farms: vegetables, fruits, and cut flowers;
  • Nine Chicks and One Hen: eggs;
  • Rosy Side Farm: vegetables and cut flowers.

For more information about the Centreville Farmers’ Market or to request a vendor application or to inquire about food truck or musician openings, contact Hannah Combs, Farmers’ Market Operations Manager at [email protected] or (443) 239-9169.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Mountains and Streams Exhibit by Kit-Keung Kan on View at Adkins Arboretum

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Tradition and innovation mingle throughout Kit-Keung Kan’s breathtaking paintings of thundering waterfalls and graceful pine trees and his energetic scrolls of colorful Chinese calligraphy. In Mountains and Streams, his exhibit on view through July 1 at Adkins Arboretum, Kan proves himself not only a masterful painter and calligrapher but an engaging poet and philosopher as well. There will be a reception to meet the artist on Sat., June 4 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Kit-Keung Kan, “ Pines of Mt. Huang XV,” Chinese ink and watercolor on rice paper, 26.5” x 26.5”

Deeply influenced by traditional Chinese art and philosophy but always ready to experiment with new ideas, Kan has developed his own unique style of painting that is simultaneously realistic and abstract, subtle and stunningly bold. His Chinese ink and watercolor paintings include his own poems elegantly brushed along one side in traditional Chinese style. More of his poems appear on long scrolls that sweep across the gallery’s ceiling in graceful curves. English translations are provided on a handout available in the gallery.

All of Kan’s work is inspired by the ancient Chinese philosophy that looks for unity between humans and nature. A lifelong artist who exhibits internationally, he is a retired physicist living in Bethesda. Growing up in China, he was influenced by traditional Chinese paintings from an early age. After moving to the U.S. in 1968 to earn his Ph.D. in physics, he began experimenting with Western ideas in his paintings, exploring semi-abstraction and installation art.

Spare and simple at a glance, his paintings are filled with an infinity of intricate details. Created by brushing many, many layers of tiny strokes of ink and watercolor onto rice paper, every painting shimmers with activity. There is an astonishing subtlety of color in the surfaces of mountain rock and the cool translucence of layered blues and greens in his cascading waterfalls and raging whitewater.

A master calligrapher who has been teaching the technique for many years, Kan also likes to explore the visual potential of the dancing strokes of ink used to create the Chinese characters in his poems. Draped in wide loops across the Adkins gallery ceiling, his installation of calligraphy scrolls, “Music of Mountain and Water,” is festive and exuberant even as it tells the story of the details of morning fog, birds, breezes, insects and falling water that create a feeling of refuge, tranquility and transcendence in nature.

Several of the paintings in the exhibit depict the unusual pine trees that grow on Mt. Huang, a mountain that has been celebrated in art and literature in China since the Tang Dynasty in the eighth century. Kan visited the mountain in the 1990s and took many photographs but was not able to create paintings from them until the Covid shutdown furnished him with uninterrupted studio time.

“The pine tree is special there,” he said. “The needles are very dense. People paint the pine tree in dramatic ways, very bent, very ancient.”

In contrast, Kan chose to paint some of the mountain’s straight-trunked pines with their near-horizontal sweeps of heavily needled branches. He also wrote a poem for each painting, their Chinese characters telling of the experience of visiting the fabled pines.

Kan began writing poems about 17 years ago, encouraged by a friend who also was interested in classic Chinese poetry.

“We exchanged our writings and criticized each other,” he explained. “Early Chinese poems have certain standards, a certain pattern you have to follow.”

By pairing paintings and poems, Kan is able to offer two parallel experiences—telling the stories of his landscapes in both visual images and the mental images created by language.

Mountains and Streams is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through July 1 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 [email protected] for gallery hours.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

May Mart Blooms Again

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If you are looking for new, native plants for your garden or have a question about gardening, plan to stop by the Chestertown Garden Club’s annual MAY MART on Friday, May 6th from 9am to 1:00pm in Memorial Park in downtown Chestertown.

This much anticipated annual Spring event offers an abundance of local, non-invasive plants for sale, along with “Everything Garden” tools and containers and a boutique of “Don’t Think Twice” treasures.  The baked goods table will be filled with home made pies and cookies.  Preordered box lunches can be picked up between 11:30-1 and a limited number will be available for purchase at May Mart. This year’s raffle will offer a prize everyone would want: a $100 gift certificate to the Chestertown business of the winner’s choice.

Proceeds from May Mart go towards the beautification and maintenance of Chestertown’s Fountain and Memorial Parks.  The Garden Club also decorates Fountain Park and downtown Chestertown for the holiday season.

The Chestertown Garden Club was founded in 1931 to bring together women with a mutual interest in gardening and environmental awareness.  Today, the civic minded group has an active membership of over 60 women and men.  Members contribute labor, time and resources to improve and maintain Chestertown’s public spaces.  The CGC provides informative meetings, local flower shows and field tripsto area gardens.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.