St. Peter's Cares for Creation!
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy. (Psalm 96:11-12)
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.(Psalm 104:24-25)
Dr. Ebony Jenkins, IPC, Linda Abbott, Dave Churchman, and Deacon Laura Harbaugh after a great day of work!
Garden Guardian Work Day #1 - July 24, 2026
St. Peter's is proud to partner with Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake as a Garden Guardian.
St Peter's, through its affiliation with Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake, is part of a grant called “Garden Guardians and Meadow Yards in the City of Salisbury”. One of the main goals of the grant is to create volunteer-based maintenance teams which will provide volunteers to assist neighboring faith-based organizations with more-than-minor projects.
On Friday, July 24th, St. Peter's parishioners Linda Abbott, David Churchman, and Deacon Laura Harbaugh were joined by Dr. Ebony Jenkins from IPC for a courtyard clean-up day. After getting organized, work began in the courtyard around 8:00 am to remove weeds and invasive English Ivy along most of the fence line between the courtyard and building next door. Over the years ivy had grown up and over the chain-link fence, spread over and around several shrubs in front of the fence, spread out on top of the courtyard bricks and under the benches. The English Ivy was also removed in the fenced-in alcove where the outdoor HVAC units are installed. About 12 bags of household trash that had been dropped down, presumably by rental tenants in the neighboring building the past few years, between St. Peter’s chain-link fence and the building next door were also removed.
St. Peter’s Property Committee had requested the ivy on the chain link fence in the courtyard be retained; however, after removing dead vines, there were a just few straggly vines left on two-thirds of the fence that were not attractive so they were also removed. On July 15, 2026, the State of Maryland named English Ivy (Hedera Helix) a banned invasive plant with the sale of the plant to be phased out between 7/15/26 through 7/15/28. See an article on this subject here. Dr. Jenkins will contact the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to recommend suitable native plants to take the pace of the ivy that has been removed.
Garden Guardians Susan Parker from St. Frances de Sales Catholic Church and Jim Cockey from St. Alban's Episcopal Church join St. Peter's to remove English Ivy.
Garden Guardian Work Day #2 - August 7, 2026
St. Peter's is proud to partner with Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake as a Garden Guardian.
St Peter's, through its affiliation with Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake, is part of a grant called “Garden Guardians and Meadow Yards in the City of Salisbury”. One of the main goals of the grant is to create volunteer-based maintenance teams which will provide volunteers to assist neighboring faith-based organizations with more-than-minor projects.
On Friday, August 7th, St. Peter's parishioners David Churchman, and Deacon Laura Harbaugh were joined by Jim Cockey from St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Susan Parker from St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and Dr. Ebony Jenkins from IPC for a second clean up day. A gentleman name, John, who was walking by stayed to help! This time, the group worked on pulling up invasive English Ivy and Vinca Minor (also known as Periwinkle or Creeping Myrtle).
Our next step will be to find native species to plant in that area followed by mulching. We will have assistance for those purchases through Garden Guardians grant and other local resources.
St. Peter's Pollinator Garden and Parking Lot Projects
St. Peter's remains committed to honoring the Lord's creation.
In 2020, we embarked on a project to replace the former asphalt parking lot surface and to update our church garden. The parking lot surface was removed and replaced with "pervious pavers," which are stones made to allow water to percolate through, rather than run over, them. This avoids the carrying of noxious materials (e.g., nitrogen, phosphates, and silt) to the Wicomico River, then on to the Chesapeake Bay. The garden was cultivated and planted with native plants that will attract pollinators of all kinds, and was certified. As part of this process, the Vestry signed a pledge to continue such efforts, and the Green Team has joined a network of faith communities with similar commitments.
Green Team Member, Linda Abbott, works on the newly planted pollinator garden.
