Coastal Maine Botanical Garden

Apple Blossoms

Bird Camp closed right after breakfast on Friday morning, so we loaded up the car and headed down the coast to Boothbay, ME, home of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Our friends, Tavia and Matt Brown, visit Maine each fall, and this garden was first on their list of "must see" places for our trip.

Map of Gardens

Several things impressed us on arrival. First, all the buildings were top notch new buildings. The visitor center itself only opened in 2018. We couldn't find our Bernheim Forest membership cards, but they looked in the book and admitted us on reciprocity. Very nice of them.

Lenten Rose

 In 1991 a small group of MidCoast residents dreamed of building a world-class public garden on 148 acres of rocky coastal forest that would one day be both an economic engine and cultural anchor for the region. They mortgaged their own homes as collateral, and approached other people with money to fund their dream, so after 16 years of planning, the Gardens opened officially in the summer of 2007. The Gardens comprises 295 acres, 17 of which are gardens and forests featuring native plants of Maine and other plants suited to northern coastal conditions. Over 200,000 guests from throughout the United States and 63 foreign countries visited CMBG in 2018.

Rhododendron Garden Waterfall

 While waiting for the next docent tour, we visited the rhododendron garden, which was in full bloom. They run big golf carts around the grounds to help visitors move from place to place (while avoiding mosquitoes).

I took far more photos of these beautiful plants than I can post here.

Sensory Garden Labyrinth

One section of the garden was designed for a friend of the founders who was blind, I believe. The sensory garden can be enjoyed by touch, sound, and scent. There is even a stone labyrinth- walk barefoot and you can always keep on the path.

Children's Garden

 

Library and playhouse

My favorite garden was the Children's Garden, modeled after classic children's stories, which, I regret to say, I did not recognize for the most part. I kept thinking that Tavia would love to set up something like this at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve, if she could come up with the funding and more staff to keep it up.

Magnolia Warbler

The Maine sections of the garden were a little more on the wild side, but still cultivated, and not always labeled with the names of the flowers. Very enjoyable though.

They were in the process of digging up tulips, which were mostly done blooming, and replacing them with perennials. We wondered what they would do with the tulip bulbs and the docent said they give or throw them away.

Artwork of all sorts graced the garden as well. Many pieces were made of Maine granite, of course, but my favorite was this kinetic piece which acted like a windmill.  When the wind blew, the shiny metal pieces began to twirl, and the whole thing rotated to catch the wind.