Tomorrow May 1, and next Saturday, May 8, The W.P. Stewart Estate, Waters Edge, will be hosting their fantastic annual Spring Bulb Tour in Northeast Harbor on Mt. Desert Island.
They plant over 45,000 bulbs in a truly spectacular setting, right on Somes Sound. And the proceeds all go to a good charity.
(This posting is late because it’s earlier this year!)
This was last year. This was the year before.
You really don’t want to miss it!
Get all the information on their Spring Bulb Tour website.
These photos were taken yesterday at the 2009 Spring Bulb Tour at Waters Edge, the Stewart Estate, in Northeast Harbor, on Somes Sound. It’s open again next Saturday, May 23, so you still have a chance to enjoy this spectacular event.
This is the post from last year. This is a link to the photos from last year. This is the link to their site. This is a link to a preview of this year’s show.
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If you haven’t started your Sweet Peas yet, get busy. Or you could just go here in a few months.
Maine seed sources — Sweet Pea Gardens, Surry, ME – Fedco Seeds, Waterville, ME — Johnny’s Seeds, Winslow, ME – Allen, Sterlling, and Lothrop, Falmouth, ME
(Burpees can also be purchased locally in Maine.)
Veterinarian George Holmes, the owner of Little River Veterinary Hospital on Route One, opened his large, and extensively pampered, Northport garden as part of the Belfast Garden Club’s Open Garden Days. However the only creatures visible on his lovely grounds, other than the many attendees, were several beautiful, and happy, chickens.
A ‘Miss Kim’ lilac in Sharon Walsh’s seaside garden — one of the Belfast Open Gardens.
The spectacular Maine summer is just never long enough. With the longest day of the year coming in a few weeks, passionate gardeners are shifting into their faster gears.
There will be a ‘Garden’ page soon, but just so you don’t miss anything, the following is a partial list of some of the garden tours offered this summer.
Please note: not all the facts have been checked, and there have been several inconsistencies. So please check before you go.
And please send along information about other events, or more information about these. It will be greatly appreciated! This posting will be updated as needed, so please check back.
Belfast Garden Club Open Garden Days / May 9 – September 19 /10 – 5 / $3
Charming Gardens of Coastal Maine / Portland / Boothbay Harbor / Casco Bay / June 16 – 22
Miles Memorial Hospital League House and Garden Tour / “Along Muscongus Bay” / Round Pond and Bremen / July 6 / 9:30 – 5 / rain or shine / $20-$25 / 207-563-8791
Eartheart Gardens in Harpswell / July 8 / 1 – 5 / Free / South Harpswell / 207-833-6905
Munjoy Hill Hidden Garden Tour / Portland / July 8 / 10 – 4 / $15-$20 / Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization / 92 Congress St. / 207-541-3607
The Maine Music Society’s Garden Tour / Auburn / Lewiston / Saturday, July 12 / 10 – 4 /rain or shine / $10-$12 / 207-782-1403
Gardens in the Watershed Tour / Sunday, July 13 / 10 – 5 / rain or shine
Waldo County Hospital Aide Garden Tour / Belfast / July 13 & 14 / 10 – 4 / $12-$15 / 207-338-3213
Private Gardens of the Kennebunks / July 14 / 10 – 4 / $15 / 207-985-5975
Pittsfield Garden Club and the trustees of the Pittsfield Library / July 14 / 10 – 4 / $10-$12 / 207-487-5670 or 207-487-5088
Brunswick Garden Tour / July 15 / 10 – 3 / $12 / 207-725-2716
Camden Garden Tour / July 17 / 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Hidden Treasures House & Garden Tour / Boothbay Harbor / Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens / July 19 / 207-633-4333
Windham Summer Garden Tour / July 21, 10 – 3 / (rain date July 28) / $15-$12 / Windham Hill / UCC Church / 140 Windham Center Rd. / 207-892-4948
Southwest Harbor Public Library Open Garden Day / July 22 / 11 – 4 / rain or shine /$20-$25 / Somesville and Southwest Harbor / 207-244-7065
Open Garden Day / The Garden Club of Mount Desert / Saturday, Juy 26 / 10 – 4 / rain or shine
Maine’s Visiting Gardens / Maine Garden Clubs
The calendar says spring is here. However, here in Maine, there are no guarantees for some weeks yet.
Other than planting pixels, FedEx is the best way to get the actual spring thing at the moment.
(Click on the images for a pixelated version.)
Pretty soon we’ll be weeding our gardens. Millions of gardening hours will be spent eliminating all those plants we just don’t want. Kind of like the political primary season we’re in, where we depend on our journalists (and bloggers) to help us out.
Here’s a great way to get the Fourth Estate to do the weeding in your garden as well. Wikipedea calls it ‘Sheet Mulching’ and Maine Cottage Garden, in Western Maine, calls it ‘Sod Top Gardening.’ This is their version of the technique:
“Pick your site. Mow the ground. Cut anything to the ground that you don’t want in the garden, and cover the area with wet newspaper. Soak the paper in warm water. A five gallon plastic pail works well, and lay the paper on the ground four to six layers thick, and over-lapped generously. On top of the paper put a layer of old horse dressing, manure of any stripe, municipal compost, or any of the commercial potting or planting mixes four to six inches in depth.
Except for the planting, your garden is done. Very few plants in the sod will be able to penetrate this layer of newspaper and horse dressing. The result is that the grass and weeds die. An ambitious set of worms with an interest in digesting the news will turn the remnants of the sod, the newspaper, and the covering into a rich friable humus in a matter of months. The complete break-down process seems to take 18 to 24 months in our area. At that time nothing is left of the sod or the newspaper and if a one inch layer of old manure is added yearly, the weed problems will be nil.”
