In Full Bloom

In 1991, a group of a half-dozen midcoast plant enthusiasts and nursery owners, possessing neither land nor money, decided that what northern New England most needed was a botanical garden. And not just any old specimen would do. From the beginning, says founder Claire Hunt, "We wanted to create a jewel that would fit into the Maine landscape." They envisioned a garden of at least a hundred acres with parts left in their natural state, yet so rigorously documented that it could achieve museum classification, the highest horticultural standard. Undaunted by the fact that starting a botanical garden from scratch is almost unheard of - most are established on land donated by a philanthropist or civic institution, or else set aside by a university - they became a registered nonprofit and set forth to find the perfect site.

Four years later, after searching from Camden to South Freeport, they found it right in their own backyard: a 128-acre property on Barters Island Road in Boothbay.It was a pristine place that a later archaeological survey suggested has never been inhabited by humans. A developer had intended to divide it into long, narrow "bacon-strip lots," each with a wink of shoreline, an idea that had failed to entice buyers. To meet the fire-sale price of five hundred thousand dollars, the founders, whose numbers had grown by then to ten, took out loans and put up their own homes as collateral. They still had no money and no members, but remained undeterred in their mission. "We never lost faith," says Robert Boyd, a founder and current vice president of the board of directors. "Somehow we just persevered." Hunt is more frank about the situation she and the others found themselves in: "It was scary!"

But board president John R. Giles says the early organizers knew that the unique location and topography of the property they had discovered were also among its greatest assets. "It's an unusual place to offer a major botanical garden, in a small town and down a peninsula," he remarks. "Most botanical gardens are located on flat land."

His confidence in the site was well founded. He and his fellow organizers of the Gardens, as the project would later become called, discovered that if they could get people to set foot on the glacier-carved property, they could get them excited. Membership grew; founders and volunteers began to catalog plants, clear trails, and devise fundraising events. Donations trickled, then flowed in. A professional staff was assembled. The 225 donors to the capital campaign initiated in 2004 were so impressed by the progress already made and the future plans that they ponied up $8.5 million. And two years ago, the project size nearly doubled after the Pine Tree Conservation Foundation donated 120 contiguous acres.

This month, the Gardens will hit full bloom. The grand opening of the new $1.85-million visitor center heralds the coming-of-age of what appears to be the most unique and far-reaching horticultural project to be undertaken in New England in years. More than a dozen separate gardens brim with thousands of documented plants, shrubs, and trees in sensitive, sophisticated displays. Sixty-four plant families are on display, more than half those known in Maine. Sculptures by such internationally renowned artists as Dale Chihuly and Steve Tobin abound.Walkways have been created, vistas carved out. Hundreds of tons of Maine granite have been hauled in to complement the natural topography of the site. Membership already tops 1,000, with 230 dedicated volunteers.

With almost a mile of shorefront on the tidal Back River and sprawling over 248 acres, the Gardens has suddenly vaulted onto the Maine horticultural scene as the largest botanical garden in New England. (Boston's Arnold Arboretum has more acreage but contains only woody plants.) It is also the only botanical garden on the Atlantic coast that focuses on seaside flora, and one of only a handful of botanical gardens in the United States that can claim tidal exposure.

But these facts tell only part of the story. Development was slow, says Executive Director Maureen Heffernan, because everyone involved was so committed to using only "the best talent and the best materials." Thoughtful design and intelligent planning are apparent everywhere, perhaps most obviously in the updated Shingle-style visitor center that will serve a variety of functions, in addition to housing administrative offices. The high-ceilinged central reception room, with its massive granite fireplace, can be used for community and fundraising events. The cafe serves visitors as well as accommodating visiting chefs. Expanded classrooms allow for meeting space and more programs, and a 2,500-volume horticultural library - the largest north of Boston - serves the public as well as students from the University of Maine, who previously had to go to the Hub for horticultural research. Even the gift shop is a treat: its buyer is a board member whose folk art collection has appeared in national magazines.

But the true power of the Gardens is, of course, most apparent in the landscape itself. The award-winning master plan for the seven-acre campus creates a nucleus of display gardens that are educational, enjoyable, and sometimes edible. The Burpee Kitchen Garden, for instance, has new seed introductions, and the seasonal vegetables and greens cultivated there will be used in the cafe, as will produce from the apple orchard featuring hardy cultivars and heirlooms recommended for growing in Maine.Each garden has a botanical interest in and of itself, where visitors can learn about plants adapted to the Maine environment and how to display them, or simply spend a quiet moment at, say, the Forest Pond, where artistically arranged water lilies lap at mossy boulders. Some gardens have more practical purposes. Couples can be joined in happy matrimony surrounded by some of the twelve varieties of Cornus kousa dogwoods in the Woodland Garden, strategically located near the Event Lawn, which in turn can accommodate receptions as well as arts performances or fairs.

Such multiple functions come from an understanding, as Giles puts it, "that if we did it right it would be successful, and if it didn't appeal to the broader public, it wouldn't work." In terms of tourist draw, he believes a botanical garden has a certain advantage over a museum, since it is always growing and changing. Visitors can come back many times and always discover something new, as beds fill in and new, unusual species are introduced. There will be something to see at the Gardens in every season - spring's hopeful green shoots, summer's glorious blossoms, and, of course, Maine's spectacular fall foliage. There are delights even in winter, when admission fees will be waived: the rough, red fruit on the 'Wolf Eyes' dogwood glow against fallen snow and the trails make for spectacular cross-country skiing. The massive array of granite boulders and stonework designed by Bar Harbor landscape architect Bruce Riddell will also be especially visible in the leafless seasons.

The only thing that may compare to the Gardens' scale is the optimism and enthusiasm that its organizers have for its future. "We are dedicated to making this truly a world-class facility. We hope to become one of Maine's top destinations," says Executive Director Maureen Heffernan. Although the two most ambitious gardens still remain to be funded and built [see "Coming Attractions" sidebar], the staff and board of directors are confident that 25,000 paying visitors will come in each of the first few years, climbing to between 40,000 and 50,000 a year when the Gardens are fully built.By comparison, the well-established Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland attracts between 53,000 and 60,000 visitors a year, and even the ten-acre Boothbay Railway Village up the road on Route 27 pulls in 35,000. In recent years, while the Gardens have been under construction, a "couple hundred" people a day have visited during the summer, despite the ongoing activity. Nationwide, travel industry statistics show that some forty million people visit gardens while on vacation, so Heffernan feels her predictions are realistic.

"We're being very conservative in planning and spending," she says, pointing out that the current board has many people with high-level business experience, all of whom have ties to Maine. Current annual operating expenses run about nine hundred thousand dollars, which the Gardens hopes to cover, as do most nonprofits, through a mixture of entrance fees and memberships, donations, sales, grants, and special events.

The Gardens have already attracted strong votes of confidence. In 2005, they were awarded a prestigious six hundred thousand dollar Kresge Foundation matching grant. "This was a huge step forward," says Giles. "It's not often given to young organizations." The Gardens were able to match it with $1.9 million, raised three months before the Kresge deadline. In 2006, the master plan won a Merit Award from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects as well as the President's Award of Excellence from the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Even with such accolades, the Gardens and its organizers are not about to celebrate their success prematurely. The plants are in bloom and the doors to the visitor's center are open, but the sign at the entrance conveys the same attitude that has seen the Gardens through sixteen years of growth: "The Gardens are under construction," it reads. "Please visit and watch us grow."

Highlights of the Gardens
The fruits of an unwavering commitment to quality, backed up by significant financial support, can be seen everywhere at the Gardens. Here are some special features.
The undulating contours of the Rhododendron & Perennial Garden, the first one completed, showcase three hundred of the spring-flowering shrubs arranged in masses of color and under planted with eight thousand spring bulbs. Perennials like feathery astilbes, iris, Japanese painted ferns, yellow lady's mantle, and many shades of bigroot geranium give summer interest.

Leading from that garden to the main campus is the Birch All`e, where a thousand white birches have transformed the original developer's straight access road into a tranquil strolling spot. Nearby, a path through pines takes visitors by rare pink lady's slippers, subject of an on-going research project. A rustic wooden footbridge arches across a small creek, where the view of rippling water over variegated grasses might have sprung from a Pre-Raphaelite painting.

The Shoreland Garden of Native Plants showcases indigenous plants: sapphire-blue wild indigo; the romantically named shrubs summersweet, leatherwood, and winterberry; and wetland perennials like wild calla and arrowhead.

Idiosyncratic stone benches using the live edge of granite and naturally occurring fault lines of the stone allow visitors to enjoy those sought-after, pine-shaded Maine vistas.

Nestled under the pines is the Fairy House Village, fenced in bent willow branches, where children and whimsical adults are invited to use non-living materials - pinecones, fallen bark, twigs, and little stones - to create diminutive residences for woodland sprites.

The Hillside Gardentransforms a steep rock ledge into a graceful zigzagging descent taking advantage of the natural topography to create resting places where granite is used to great effect. A giant glass orb created by sculptor Henry Richardson perches on one boulder. "It looks logical now," says Bar Harbor landscape architect Bruce Riddell, who designed and installed the stonework, "but it was a bank of solid trees. You couldn't see the water."

The path ends at the Vayo Meditation Garden, an austere spot with a large-scale Ellsworth-schist boulder carved by David Holmes of Newport. Granite tailings in various colors - Mount Desert Pink, Winter Harbor Red, Deer Isle Purple, Sullivan Salt-and-Pepper - form a massive backdrop. "This is a place to contemplate the big picture," Riddell says. "It epitomizes the Gardens: the contrast of built elements, the history of Maine. There will be native plants and a grove of Franklinia, an unusual specimen tree that shows this is a botanical garden, a learning place to blend native and introduced plants with ornamentals."

Coming Attractions
" 2009: The Children's Garden
Drawing on the many children's books set in Maine, this garden will include an Abenaki encampment, a blueberry island, Burt Dow's boat, a lupine meadow, and a whale fountain. "Nothing plastic, nothing Disney," says Executive Director Maureen Heffernan. "Children's gardens have become very popular because they're great business, and also great education. This will really put Maine on the map."
" 2010: The Garden of the Five Senses
Modeled after a garden in Osaka, Japan, this area will let visitors experience the Gardens through all five senses. Look for smooth stones that allow people to enjoy a reflexology walk barefoot, touch-friendly sculptures, fragrant blossoms, and trickling water.