3rd Annual Pollinator Garden Tour
hosted by Lower Shore Land Trust
June 23rd and 24th from 8am – 4pm
At Private residences throughout Wicomico County
(follow-up event: June 30th, 5-7pm – Plein Air Artists’ Reception & Sale at Bishop’s Stock Art, Craft & Wine, Snow Hill)
Cost- $30 in advance and $35 day of event
Event to benefit Lower Shore Land Trust conservation programs
Tickets: https://www.lowershorelandtrust.org/shop-beehive.
For more information contact the Land Trust office at 443-234-5587 or info@lowershorelandtrust.org.
The third annual Pollinator Garden Tour, hosted by the Lower Shore Land Trust, will be held on June 23 & 24, 2023, at eight private gardens in Wicomico County. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the properties and the pollinator gardens and meadows and learn how these homeowners are helping combat pollinator decline while beautifying their yards with native plants.
This annual event is held by the Lower Shore Land Trust in support of their mission, which is, in part, to aid in protecting and decreasing the loss of crucial habitat for pollinators across our region and providing the members of the community the opportunity to learn simple ways to make a big impact, even in their own back yards.
Bees, birds, butterflies, bats and birds increase the USA’s crop values each year by more than $15 billion (USGS). Yet between 2017 and 2022, 37% of the honeybee population and the same number of wild bumblebees were lost with seven new species making it to the endangered list here in the United States alone. Four thousand of the world’s 20,000 bee species live in the United States. Without these pollinators, more than one hundred crop species that provide 90% of the world’s food supply pollinated by bees, butterflies, birds and or bats could fail. This presents a major threat to food security. Both kept and native bees, butterflies, bats and birds rely on the public’s assistance to protect their habitats.
The Lower Shore Land Trust staff and its Committee members Suzy Taylor, Tracy Causey-Jeffery and Barbara Dolan invite the public to tour these private pollinator gardens on June 23 & 24, 2023 from 8am-4 pm, one or both days, and learn how to turn a back yard into a pollinator paradise.
This year’s tour gardens range from an Urban Forest Garden, a Mt. Hermon Farm Garden, a converted lawn, a meadow garden, to two Salisbury gardens opposite each other that provide a “street crossing” for pollinators, a garden and a chicken paradise, all providing a community for pollinators.
As a visitor to these private pollinator paradises, attendees can participate in mini-workshops covering such topics as rain barrel installation, soil health and testing for the homeowner, spotting and handling invasive species, bird watching 101 and more.
In addition, garden guests may purchase raffle tickets for a complete rain barrel or a pollinator garden goodies basket. There will also be eight professional plein air painters at work in the gardens. Painting in this year’s gardens will be Lissa Abrams, Natalie Blanton, Rhonda Ford, Jill Glassman, Ann Schaeffer, John Schisler, Karen Winston Levin and Lori Yates.
Following the tour dates, Bishop’s Stock Fine Art, Craft & Wine in Snow Hill will host a reception on June 30th from 5-7 pm. Plein air artists from the garden tour will be in attendance and their paintings created during the tours will be available for viewing and sale. The public is cordially invited to the artists’ reception and sale. Proceeds of the art sales will go to the artists and the Lower Shore Land Trust’s future pollinator garden projects.
Every ticket purchased benefits the Lower Shore Land Trust’s work to create or preserve more pollinator habitat for bees, birds, butterflies and bats. To purchase tickets for this year’s Lower Shore Land Trust’s Pollinator Garden Tour visit https://www.lowershorelandtrust.org/shop-beehive. For more information contact the Land Trust office at 443-234-5587 or info@lowershorelandtrust.org.
