Holly Greenberg

Hi, my name is Holly Greenberg! I am a rising senior in the dual-degree Biology and Environmental Science program with Salisbury University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. This summer, I am located at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center in Clarksville, MD. My mentors are Laura Nixon and Dave Clement. Laura is the Ornamental IPM Entomologist Specialist, and Dave is the Ornamental Horticulture Pathology Specialist.

This is me presenting my research on leaf-litter ants at the Salisbury University Student Research Conference in April 2026. 

Outside of school and work, my time is shared between my honeybee colonies, vegetable garden, and backyard chickens! My interest in a career in entomology began with beekeeping. I have always liked insects and have many memories of playing with bugs as a kid, but I really began to view this as a career path after diving into honeybees. During this internship, I will be assisting Laura and Dave in their various projects and events. This includes field work on and off-site. As they are both state agents, their work is based all around MD. While this week was short, I was still able to receive a glimpse into what the summer will be like! 

On Tuesday, Laura took me and Alexandra, another summer intern at CMREC, to Rockville to visit one of three sites for recording the phenology of Crape Myrtle Bark Scale (CMBS). We visited the two other sites on Wednesday. At these locations, we placed double-sided tape on 3-4 branches around each Crape Myrtle Tree. As the CMBS nymphs emerge and move, they will stick to the tape, allowing us to track the densities of each life stage. This project is especially important for arborists who implement IPM, as it will inform them of the optimal time for applying pesticides (when crawler/nymph density is highest). In the coming days, we will be placing sod containing native flowers near the base of each tree.

Alexandra and I are placing double-sided tape on a Crape Myrtle tree in Rockville to track the CMBS life stages present.

On Thursday, I weeded the beds with Snap Dragon and Matricaria flowers. This project is testing the effectiveness of weed suppression of normal weed paper, biodegradable weed paper, and a clover cover crop. Later in the day, Laura, Dave, and I went to London Town and Gardens in Annapolis, where they presented a pest walk for the Maryland Arborist Association. The event began with presentations by Laura on different types of scale, and Dave, on the spring frost damage. We then went for a stroll around the gardens and learned about the pests and diseases currently impacting ornamentals. 

This is the inside of a Witch Hazel Nipple Gall full of aphids at London Town and Gardens.

On Friday, Suzanne, the technician lead, and I recorded the measurements of the Snap Dragon and Matricaria flowers; we also rated each plant on a 1-3 scale, with 1 being dead and 3 being healthy. I also marked the location of each flower in the clover cover crop for future reference because the clover is quite dense. 

This week showed me that no two days will be the same. I have already had the opportunity to meet and interact with many of the stakeholders and Extension specialists and am looking forward to next week and the rest of the summer!