Adkins Arboretum is a native garden and arboretum located within Tuckahoe State Park at 12610 Eveland Road, Ridgely, Maryland. Its gardens contain a living collection of more than 600 native plant species, used to promote land stewardship practices in the Chesapeake Bay region. A retail Native Plant Nursery offers ornamental native tree, shrubs, perennials, and other plants for sale. Hours are Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Arboretum offers classes to the public in horticulture, ecology, and natural history throughout the year. Grounds are open daily, except Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Visitor's Center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.The Arboretum was originally established in 1972 to be the Maryland state arboretum on the grounds of Tuckahoe State Park. It first opened in the 1980s as a result of a major donation from Leon Andrus, a native of Queen Anne's County. The Arboretum derives its name from the Adkins family, an Eastern Shore family of conservationists who were friends with Andrus. When Andrus died in 1989, he left a bequest to the Arboretum's endowment.Its original mission was to display all of Maryland's forest types; however, in the 1990s, its mission was revised to emphasize the display and study of the Delmarva Peninsula's indigenous plant communities. In 1998, its operations were converted to a public/private partnership, with Maryland granting a 50-year lease to the Friends of Adkins Arboretum. The arboretum is supported by grants and donations.Adkins Arboretum features over 600 species of native shrubs, trees, wildflowers and grasses, and contains five miles of paths through meadows and native plant gardens on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
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