ANNMARIE NATURE CENTER and a personal story

from website description:

Annmarie Garden is a thirty acre public sculpture park located in scenic Solomons, Maryland. The Garden features an inviting paved path that meanders through the woods past permanent and loaned works of outdoor sculpture. The recent addition of sculpture on loan from the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has increased the number and significance of works of art in the park. The Garden is open daily and is an intriguing place to explore how art and nature merge....Annmarie Garden is an enchanting place.

Beginning in 1935, Mr. B. Y. Morrison,...Director of the National Arboretum, began hybridizing azaleas at the Plant Introduction Station in Glenn Dale, Maryland. By 1952, over 400 hybrids had been introduced. The goal of Mr. Morrison's work was three-fold. First, he wanted to develop plants with profuse, huge, and varied blooms. Second, he wanted to develop plants that were cold-hardy. Third, he wanted evergreen azaleas that would bloom from mid-April to mid-June. The resulting collection of azaleas, known as Glenn Dale Hybrids, are a spectacularly varied collection well represented at Annmarie Garden.


Annmarie is our family's cat. She is now ten years old. When my youngest son left for college I was feeling much loss. So we went over to the Gardens for the weekend to see the artist's work that was on display and to enjoy the beautiful grounds. We had once lived near Annmarie Gardens and thus enjoyed the bayside environment even more.

As we were driving away, I asked my husband to pull the car over so I could take a closer look at the beautiful gate (one side of which is pictured above). It turned out that the Director was posted there and she had a shoe box with little wet kittens inside. Someone had left the tiny kittens in the Gardens parking lot. Four had survived and the Director had given them all baths because they were "quite a mess," she said. I picked out the one that I found especially appealing, took her home, and she has been my treasured cat. For several weeks she would sleep beside me in the bed at night. She grew to be a beautiful and refined feline. She ultimately had two litters of wondrous kittens and when we had her neutered it was a hard thing to do. She is a Tuxedo Gray and has similar markings to our Mika, a Boston Terrier. They are very attached and jealous with one another and quite a funny pair. I will always be grateful to the Gardens for being the original home of my cat, Annmarie.

Now is the time to visit......all the Azaleas are in bloom.