A jewel in Maine

A short but persuasive article in the Washington Post caught our attention recently. It was titled “Add some beauty to your summer travel with a trip to a garden.”  In the article, the author shared her memories of being transported by the beauty and peacefulness of gardens she had visited. Although we personally tend to gravitate toward wild natural sites, we too enjoy a stroll through a lovely garden. This post is about one of them.

All gardeners can testify that every ornamental garden, big or small, has a story, and that story is a blend of love, patience, and steadfast labour. This is certainly the case for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (Gardens). The Gardens opened in 2007, after 16 years of dedicated effort by a small group of visionary community builders who not only conceived every aspect of the project but also made, we were told, a significant personal financial commitment to fund it.

Their foresight and patience were rewarded since the Gardens have become one of Maine’s major attractions, despite being situated a little bit off the beaten track, in the small town of Boothbay. The saying “if you build it, they will come,” associated with the movie Field of Dreams, surely applies to those beautiful gardens.

The stated mission of the Gardens is “to inspire meaningful connections among people, plants and nature through horticulture, education and research.” The Gardens started as a project aiming to turn 128 acres of rocky land into superb and accessible thematic gardens and forested trails.

The Gardens were expanded in 2017 and they now comprise three hundred acres of an enchanting mix of flower displays, water features and elegant bridges, hills and rocky topographies, paths, river walks and wetlands. Seventeen acres are dedicated to native plants of Maine and the northern coastal region. The central gardens are accessible, and several mobility options are offered to ensure that all can enjoy their visit.

Some of the facilities and gardens are named after benefactors: the Lerner Visitor Center and the Lerner Garden of the Five Senses, the Alfond Children’s Garden, the Cleaver Lawn, the Reiser Woodland Garden, the Haney Hillside Garden, etc. The Gardens also include an education centre, a butterfly house, a large picnic area and a café. Several areas are dedicated to specific species of plants or trees.

The amount of walking required to visit such extensive gardens can be demanding, particularly on a hot day. This is why there are wooden benches, conveniently placed, where visitors can wait for a ride on one of the free shuttles, operated by volunteers, which come by every few minutes.

Maine is known for its abundance of granite of assorted colours, and the Gardens are peppered with huge granite rocks which make for a visually attractive landscape. Flat granite blocks are used as seats throughout the Gardens. The peaceful Vayo Meditation Garden, designed by a landscape architect, features a variety of tastefully arranged granite stonework, in reference to Maine’s old granite quarries. A small circular area on some of the stones has been polished to reveal the colours of the grains. Such attention to detail!

There are many information panels throughout the Gardens as well as numerous sculptures. The five gigantic sculptures called “trolls,” created by the Danish artist Thomas Dambo, are a highlight for all visitors. Each troll has a name in Danish, but together they are referred to as the “Guardians of the Seeds,” relating to the theme of biodiversity. The trolls are made from recycled wood, and they are positioned in forested areas of the Gardens. Just to see them is worth a visit.

We hope you will enjoy the video below and perhaps be inspired to visit a garden this summer too.