By Greg Ellison

(Feb. 11, 2021) After adapting to largely online communications for coronavirus considerations last year, the Ocean Pines Garden Club is hoping to stage activities this spring following whatever safety restrictions remain in place.

Garden Club President Patti Lookner said after the group halted in-person meetings due to the pandemic an email alternative was quickly launched to keep members in touch.

“We started a monthly newsletter [The Bloomin’ News] in May,” she said.

Ocean Pines Garden Club President Patti Lookner

Later last year the group reconvened monthly meetings via zoom.

“We meet the second Thursday of the month,” she said.

Lookner said the club appointed 2021 officers during its most recent virtual gathering last month, along with a “gardening trivia game.”

Although cementing details remains challenging the club continues to forge ahead with a slate of events on tap, in some fashion, through June.

“We’re scheduling bit by bit because we’re watching the restrictions,” she said. “It’s all a wait and see.”

Principal on the list is the annual Arbor Day memorial tree-planting ceremony, at Pintail Park.

“We usually have the ceremony followed by a luncheon [but] last year it was completely canceled,” she said. “This year we’re hoping we can have the outdoor ceremony.”

In an odd twist, after staging the Arbor Day dedication ceremony for roughly the past two decades, and earning a PLANT Award from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources last April, the Garden Club was forced to cancel the event in 2020.

The Arbor Day ceremony, which is typically held on the second Thursday in April, has been produced in conjunction with Kelly Romanowski from Ocean Pines Public Works.

Lookner said the Arbor Day planting is done in memory of people who are either Ocean Pines residents or family of … residents who have passed away the year prior.

“We do one planting of a tree, bush or large plant for the whole group,” she said.

In light of cancelling the event last year, the goal is to combine the prior list of departed loved ones with more recent entries.

“They announce each name, ring a bell and give a flower to the family member there,” she said. “They each come up and put a shovel full of dirt on the plant.”

The following month the Garden Club will continue a more recent tradition.

“A couple of years ago we started having Mothers’ Day floral arrangements at the [Ocean Pines] Farmers Market,” she said. “A group of us get together and make arrangements the night before.”

Lookner said production procedures would be adapted accordingly this year, in much the same spirit as the group’s traditional Christmas undertaking.

“We do the Christmas decorations for the Pines,” she said. “We were determined we would get decorations up this year.”

While both floral-focused creative endeavors normally involve a wealth of club members gathering at the Ocean Pines Community Center gym, pandemic considerations have shifted the majority of participants to produce at home.

“Usually we all meet at the gym but we had to change this year, with some at home and a smaller number in the gym,” she said.

Lookner said for the time being the club would continue virtual monthly meetings with the potential to shift outdoors as warm weather returns dependent upon coronavirus restrictions.

“We’ll just do what we can,” she said.

With upcoming meetings delving into a variety of topics with varied presenters including Ocean Pines drainage issues, native plants and floral arrangements, Lookner encourages anyone whose interest is piqued to make contact.

“We have the whole realm out there from ‘I don’t know what to do’ to ‘master gardeners’ in the group,” she said. “You learn from one another … (and) the speakers that come.”

For more information or to join the Ocean Pines Garden Club, email  Lookner at plookner@gmail.com.