Arbor Garden, Midcoast Maine Botanical Gardens
Maine Gardens: Midcoast/Midstate Region
- Including tours of private residential gardens in and around Bath, Belfast, Camden, and Wiscasset
Please e-mail listings, preferably in the format below, to: [email protected].
Photo by Blaine House
Pink phlox in Blaine House gardens.
Tours Monday, Wednesday, Friday, YEAR ROUND, 10, 10:30, 11
Blaine House
State and Capitol Streets, Augusta
Maine’s 19th-century governor’s mansion, surrounded by broad lawns edged with annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees. Free. Admission on guided tours only; make reservations at mainestatemuseum.org/learn or 207-287-2301 at least 3 days in advance.
www.blainehouse.org
Photo by Blaine House
Blaine House gardens
Photo by Castine Inn
Castine Inn garden
Daily, YEAR ROUND, any time
Castine Inn Garden
33 Main Street, Castine
A small (7,500-square-foot) garden, mainly mature perennials and shrubs, adjacent to the inn and nicely screened from the street by its taller plants. Free.
207-326-4365
www.castineinn.com
Photo by Merryspring Nature Center
Daylilly Garden at Merryspring Nature Center
Daily, YEAR ROUND, dawn to dusk
Merryspring Nature Center
30 Conway Road, Camden
The 66-acre site features a daylily garden, herb garden, hosta garden, rock garden, and rose garden, plus annual and perennial beds and an arboretum. The office is open Tuesday-Friday, 9-2. Free but donations encouraged.
207-236-2239
www.merryspring.org
Photo by Merryspring Nature Center
Rose Garden & Cottage at Merryspring Nature Center
Photo by Viles Arboretum
Sycamore trees at Viles Arboretum
Daily, YEAR ROUND, dawn to dusk
Viles Arboretum
3 Hospital Street, Augusta
The 224-acre site includes the largest public hosta garden in Maine, with more than 200 varieties; a rock garden with nearly 50 species; large collections of lilacs, conifers, chestnuts, sycamores, apples, and other trees; and the state’s largest permanent outdoor art collection, all accessed on 6 miles of trails. Many plants are labeled. The Visitor Center is open 10:30-4:30, Wednesday-Saturday. Free but donations welcome.
207-626-7989
www.vilesarboretum.org
Photos by Pineland Farms
Gardens at Pineland Farms
Daily, SPRING-FALL, 8 am-dusk
Pineland Farms
15 Farm View Drive, New Gloucester
Formerly a state hospital for the mentally disabled, now owned by the non-profit Libra Foundation, the posh, well-groomed 5,000-acre complex includes a garden with 34 varieties of lilacs; a “Great Lawn” with water features, sweeps of daffodils and tulips, large annual beds, and distant views of the White Mountains; and a 1-acre garden with 6,000 annuals, 130 varieties of perennials, herb and vegetable gardens, conifer and blueberry beds, and an allée of 20 apple trees, all accessed on a quarter-mile of paved walkways. Free.
207-688-4539
www.pinelandfarms.org
Photos by Pineland Farms
Gardens at Pineland Farms
Photo by Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Giles Rhododendron & Perennial Garden at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Daily, May 1 – OCTOBER 22, 9-5
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Off Route 27, Boothbay
One of New England’s newest public botanical gardens, but already its largest and most elaborate—and becoming more extensive every year. The 323-acre site includes vast display gardens and a large woodland rhododendron collection surrounding an impressive waterfall. $24. Advance admission tickets required.
207-633-8000
www.mainegardens.org
Photos by Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Lerner Garden of the Five Senses at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Photo by Belfast Garden Club
Belfast Open Days garden
Saturdays, JUNE 22 – AUGUST 17, 10-4, rain or shine
Belfast Open Days
14 private gardens open on 9 Saturdays in the coastal town of Belfast. $5, $35 season pass.
www.belfastgardenclub.org
Saturday, JULY 13, 11-4
Wiscasset Homes on Tour
Residential properties in Maine’s “prettiest village” and the surrounding communities of Alna, Dresden, Edgecomb, and Woolwich, including several of the splendid Federal houses built during Wiscasset’s early-19th-century golden age of shipbuilding and ocean trade. Optional picnic lunch, served on the lawn of the Nickels-Sortwell House.
www.wiscassetcreativealliance.org
Photo by the Camden Garden Club
Oceanfront garden on Camden Garden Club Tour
Thursday, JULY 18, 9:30-4, rain or shine
76th Annual Camden Garden Club Tour
6 private gardens in Camden. $40; $35 if tickets are bought before the tour date.
www.camdengardenclub.org
Photo by the Camden Garden Club
Oceanfront garden on Camden Garden Club Tour
Photo by Sagadahoc Preservation, Inc.
House and Garden Tour
Saturday, JUNE 22, 10-3
18th Annual House & Garden Tour
Bath
Private properties, including many historic homes that, like those in Wiscasset, reflect the seaport town’s early-19th-century prosperity.
207-443-2174
www.sagadahocpreservation.org