Qualla: Adkins Arboretum

Adkins Arboretum: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Willcook3, CC BY-SA 4.0. Most arboreta show off the world. Adkins shows off the Delmarva Peninsula. The 400 acres tucked into Tuckahoe State Park near Ridgely, Maryland, started in the 1970s with the ambitious mission of displaying every Maryland forest type - oak-hickory, pine-mixed hardwood, bottomland swamp, the whole catalog of the state's wooded ecosystems. By the 1990s, the mission had narrowed and deepened. The arboretum decided that instead of trying to represent all of Maryland, it would represent the Delmarva specifically - the peninsula's indigenous plant communities, the species that grew here before European agriculture remade the landscape. The new mission was smaller, and far more useful.

Read more: Adkins Arboretum on Qualla

Image: Willcook3 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Adkins Arboretum: Five Miles of Paths

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tim Kiser (User:Malepheasant), CC BY-SA 2.5. The arboretum's grounds contain five miles of looping paths through meadows, woodlands, and native plant gardens. The trails wind through habitats ranging from upland forest to wet meadow to floodplain. The Tuckahoe Creek, which runs through the larger state park, defines the wes...

Read more: Adkins Arboretum on Qualla

Image: Tim Kiser (User:Malepheasant) | CC BY-SA 2.5

Adkins Arboretum: The Public-Private Partnership

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Willcook3, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1998, the State of Maryland converted the arboretum's operations to a public-private partnership. The state granted a 50-year lease to the nonprofit Friends of Adkins Arboretum, which now runs the place day-to-day under the broader umbrella of Tuckahoe State Park. The arrangem...

Read more: Adkins Arboretum on Qualla

Image: Willcook3 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Adkins Arboretum: Why Native Plants Matter

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Willcook3, CC BY-SA 4.0. The shift from displaying all Maryland forest types to focusing on Delmarva native species reflected a larger change in conservation science during the 1990s. Native plants evolved alongside the insects, birds, and mammals of the region. They support pollinator populations that i...

Read more: Adkins Arboretum on Qualla

Image: Willcook3 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Adkins Arboretum: Tuckahoe State Park and Caroline County

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Fischer, CC BY 2.0. Adkins Arboretum sits inside Tuckahoe State Park, the larger Maryland state park that covers about 4,000 acres along the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline and Queen Anne's counties. The state park has the campgrounds, the boat ramps for canoes and kayaks, the hiking trails that extend b...

Read more: Adkins Arboretum on Qualla

Image: Eric Fischer | CC BY 2.0

Adkins Arboretum: The Quiet Education

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Willcook3, CC BY-SA 4.0. Adkins is not a destination arboretum. It does not have the size of Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania or the global fame of the New York Botanical Garden. What it has is a focused mission, a generous landscape, and a stewardship model that has held together for almost three decade...

Read more: Adkins Arboretum on Qualla

Image: Willcook3 | CC BY-SA 4.0