A Magical Children’s Garden

You do not have to be less than four feet tall to enjoy the Children’s Garden at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in Boothbay. This magical garden is a delight for all ages, with lots of whimsical features and touchy-feely activities.

What is so unique and fun about this particular garden is the unexpected. When you enter the garden, you are greeted by giant carved stone whales that send up a surprise spray of water every so often. This is a great place for kids to play on a hot summer’s day. And the adults can enjoy the nearby hanging rocking chairs and benefit from a little wet mist too.

The garden is an explosion of color and on one path you’ll see a rainbow of blooming flowers. This path takes you to an adorable picket cat fence surrounding a little cottage with grass growing on the roof. Next door kids can check out the story barn and pick out a book to read in the giant story teller’s chair. Nearby there is a cute little chicken coop filled with colorful hens.

For the high energy kids, a huge maze and a fun “stump jump” will keep them busy for hours. This is just a sampling of the interesting and interactive displays in this adorable garden. The next time you are in Maine, stop by the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens - you won’t be disappointed.

Maine Knows How to Garden

I recently visited the acclaimed Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in Boothbay, Maine and I was not disappointed.  This fairly new botanical garden is exceptional.  The designers of this garden were very respectful of Maine and the environment.  They used lots of water, stone and natural plants to captured and stay true to the essence of the Maine coast line. Whether you visit the scented garden, children’s garden or walking trails, you will experience unexpected surprises and wows around every corner.  

Because pictures are worth a 1000 words, I will let my pictures give you an idea of what you can expect if you were to visit this garden in mid-August.

The children’s garden was the best, most child-friendly beautiful and fun garden I have ever seen in a botanical garden. However, you will have to wait for my separate blog post to see all the great features designed just for the kids.

Tour de Hosta

It was tour time in July for New England Hosta Society (NEHS) members. This year the group was  invited to tour three member's gardens in Holbrook, Massachusetts. The garden hosts are serious hosta collectors, however they have an appreciation for a lot of other beautiful plants too. Here are some photo highlights of the tour.

Hosta Cherry Berry or Cherry Tomato - which do you prefer?

Many members of the New England Hosta Society devote a fair amount of energy growing hosta.  However it is no surprise to find many other beautifully grown plants when your tour their gardens.  Here's a sampling of some of the great plants they are growing:

Like any member of the NEHS, these members are growing some great specimens of hosta.  Here are a few of the varieties that impressed me:

Enchanted Garden

I visited a beautiful garden in Minneapolis, Minnesota this summer - truly amazing.

  The Blair Filister garden was small, yet it felt so big.
The garden was planted with beautiful hostas, alpine plants and so much more. 

Water was a significant element in this garden. 

 In addition to unusual plantings, the owners had a very artistic eye

and have a lovely collection of garden sculpures. 

Enjoy!