Open Gardens 2022

Special thanks to our Media Sponsor, Maine Home and Design

ALL GARDENS ARE OPEN 10:00-4:00 RAIN OR SHINE
See HOME page for weekly photos and detailed description

A donation of $5 is suggested (checks or exact change is appreciated).

Photography is allowed with permission of the gardener. Please no dogs. Restrooms are not available at gardens.

Proceeds from this fundraiser support Belfast Garden Club programs and activities including the maintenance of 12 public gardens in Belfast and scholarships for Waldo County students studying horticulture and related subjects.

Friday, June 24
Lewis-LaMonica Garden
2 Northport Avenue, Belfast

Our gardens started in 2012 when we purchased our home and the adjacent building lot. By the end of the first summer we had a flower garden on Northport Ave and down Allyn Street. In 2013 we began establishing a vegetable garden, added fruit trees and shrubs and two  hugelkultur mounds.

In 2017, we engaged Lee Schneller to help us create a bird garden. Sally and Lee worked together on plant selection and we added a water feature, peony bed with tree, herbaceous and Itoh peonies. In 2021 a system of ledgedust paths and a meditation bench were added in addition to a wood-burning oven from granite cobble stones salvaged from Portland streets.

Friday, July 8
Brim-DeForest Garden
459 Bluff Road, Northport

The gardens at Oak Hall were designed in 1912 by the Olmsted trained Warren H. Manning, proponent of the naturalistic wild garden approach to landscape architecture. His work lives on over 100 years later as a testament to his vision and the natural beauty of coastal Maine. Manning’s penchant for the picturesque can be seen all around the estate. The built environment merges on the periphery with the New England-Acadian forest biome which Oak Hall calls home. The estate features a variety of formal and informal gardens, including the cedar lined knot garden, the English garden, and the Japanese winter garden. www.oakhallestate.org.

A 15-person van is being provided to shuttle visitors to the grounds of the estate. Visitors should meet in the parking lot at the nearby Edna Drinkwater School, 56 Bayside Road. The school is seven-tenths of a mile from the venue, a five-minute drive, from the Northport estate. There is no parking at the driveway to the estate or on Bluff Road. The shuttle van will be on a continuous loop every 10-to-15 minutes.

Friday, July 15
Penobscot Shores Garden
10 Shoreland Drive, Belfast

For 26 years Penobscot Shores Retirement Community has grown formal perennial beds to woodland assemblages for the enjoyment of residents and visitors. Visitors can start their tour at the Ocean House 
front entrance garden where refreshments will be offered. Maps and signage will help guide visitors to the courtyard garden and several private cottage resident gardens as well as raised beds for vegetables and herbs, the gazebo by the waterfront and the wildflower meadows with four bee hives. Many trees have been labeled as well.

Friday, July 22

Mills Garden & Harris Garden

37 Franklin & Charles Streets, Belfast

Our garden on our side yard faces Charles Street. This garden is filled with perennials of many sizes and colors, including iris in the spring, dark maroon and green Adjuga summer through fall, a variety of hosta and numerous ground covers. There is almost always something in bloom. Our back yard has hydrangeas and home framing perennial beds. Walk to the Harris front yard as described below. There will be refreshments on the patio.

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Harris Garden

9 James Street, Belfast

The Harris pocket gardens surround the front yard. Included are potted geraniums and herbs on the front natural Maine granite patio. The perennials and shrubs are to the sides of the driveway entrance and include small pines, hydrangeas, hosta and baptisia (blue indigo). Zinnias, along with lavender, clematis and hosta, are in granite rimmed raised beds. Join the Harrises for cold drinks and snacks before or after visiting the Mills gardens, a 3 minute walk away.

Friday, July 29
Hamel Garden
661 Lincolnville Road, Belmont

Our gardens have taken shape since we moved to Belmont five years ago and were inspired by each Open Garden in the years since. We now have nine garden areas with a mixture of perennials and shrubs such as garden phlox, colorful lilies, a deep pink quince, honeysuckle and spirea. At the side entrance is a kitchen herb garden. The back yard contains clay soil so instead of tilling we built 10 raised beds 4’x12′ and erected a wire mesh fence partially buried to discourage the deer, chipmunks and field mice from sampling the vegetables.

Friday, August 5

Conard Garden

35 Piper Stream Road, Northport

At Piper Stream Farm in Northport visitors will find an orchard, vegetable garden and expansive perennial beds. A fenced field at the front of the property protects pear, cherry, peach, apple and plum trees and a vegetable garden with summer and winter squash, snap peas, fresh and dried beans, cabbage varieties, and potatoes. Along the edge are perennial beds of asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb and several red raspberry varieties. There is also a small greenhouse. Flower gardens near the house range from shade to sun and include native and horticultural shrubs and perennials. Backing the flower beds are large islands of red osier (red twig) dogwood producing white berries important to migrating birds.

Friday, August 12
Guerry Garden

132 Congress Street, Belfast

Our garden features old and new shrubs with lilac and rhododendron creating cornerstones in pathways. Hosta, lilies, hydrangea, peony, primrose, and roses greet you at every turn. Apple, plum, peach, fig, elderberry, mulberry, raspberry, blackberry and kiwi surround the property. The small pond is called Raspberry Pond as the raspberries rule this section of space in the back corner of our lot. The vegetables have found their permanent home next to the outdoor kitchen.

Friday, August 19
Cooper-Berger Garden
76 Miller Street, Belfast

The garden draws the living space of the house to the outdoors across a wide porch to a brick and stone patio. A stone walkway leads down to an open lawn. A small moss garden accents a second smaller, private patio. In summer, planting boxes yield herbs and vegetables. The garden incorporates references to Japanese design and perennials providing color from early May through late November. One of Maine’s oldest Japanese tree lilacs grows in front.

Friday, August 26
Penniman Garden
120 Upper Bluff Road, Northport

The gardens are spacious, whimsical and designed to flow with the landscape. There are raised beds for vegetables and a plot of blueberry bushes in the rear. Enjoy our small rock path shortcuts and frog pond. We initially created a small garden. My mother added plants from her gardens – lilies, hydrangeas, iris and her heritage roses that now climb up the maple tree. There are many types of ground cover including green ivy that came from a garden in St. Louis as well as yellow and gooseneck loosestrife. In the late summer the color theme is yellow, pink and white from hydrangeas, rose of Sharon (hibiscus), phlox, lilies, Russian sage, a variety of perennials, and especially sunflowers. Late summer is the time for dahlias.