A Visit to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

We'd been promising our good friends, Jim and Lynn, we'd take them out to dinner to celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary ever since their anniversary...which was December 28.

What with one thing and another: too cold, too many other events going on, too lazy to set a date, etc., we kept putting off the actual doing.

Then I had a brainstorm: Why not take them on a full-day outing? Nothing's better than Maine in the summer, so we had plenty of activities from which to choose.

We finally settled on taking them, early in the morning, to the Montsweag Flea Market in Woolwich, then on to the botanical gardens in Boothbay, then to a restaurant in Boothbay Harbor for lunch.

So that's what the four of us did on a recent Saturday.

We couldn't have asked for better weather for the outing: clear blue skies and comfortable warmth.

 I've blogged about Montsweag before, so I won't go into that now, but I don't think I've ever mentioned the beautiful Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

They're about 1 3/4 hours from our home in southern Maine. They're "up the coast," or "Down East," in other words.

The gardens opened in 2007, so they haven't existed all that long, but boy, are they spectacular.

What's not to like about 248 acres of meticulously landscaped and groomed gardens? And excellent architecture housing their Visitor Center, their Education Center, and their administrative offices?

The gardens are divided into various smaller gardens: the Rose and Perennial Garden, the Great Lawn and Ledge Garden, the Lerner Garden of the Five Senses, etc.

My favorite, I think, is the Children's Garden. It was in the beginning stages of construction when Ken and I last visited, so we were delighted to see it in completed form. It's extensive and whimsical and full of activities for children.

I loved the grass-covered roof on the small building to the left and below. I'd love to have that building in my own flower garden.

The Children's Garden has ropes for climbing, hens and chickens for feeding, fish in a pond for watching, a Story Barn, a Coloring Cottage, and even fairy houses.

This critter is under water in the Children's Garden.

Here Ken and Jim meditate in the Meditation Garden, or maybe they're just resting their feet.

Here we are after our two-hour walkabout in the gardens.

This is the Garden of the Five Senses. As you can see, visitors bring their cameras and take many close-ups.

This is Waterfall Landing. Pretty, isn't it?

After a visit to the Rhododendron Garden, which was the only disappointing area since the rhododendrons were just past their full bloom, we stopped at the Garden Gift Shop. It's a wonderful gift shop, full of gardening items as well as many Maine-made crafts. (I came home with a pretty handmade seaglass bracelet). I'd love to go back there to do some Christmas shopping.

There is also a Kitchen Garden Cafe where we could have had lunch. I've heard good things about it.

But we'd already decided to drive into Boothbay Harbor for lunch. We chose the Tugboat Inn Restaurant and enjoyed delicious lobster rolls.

Celebrating a December anniversary in June isn't such a bad idea!