PORTLAND, Maine — May 12 is National Public Gardens Day, and luckily Maine has many public gardens available for people to visit, sit and relax, and learn some gardening ideas.
The American Public Gardens Association established this day to emphasize activities such as plant conservation, water conservation, green space preservation, and home gardening.
Lori Staples is the head gardener at Pineland Farms Garden in New Gloucester and explains that the farms have several gardens people can enjoy starting this month until we see some snowflakes in the air.
The gardens include all types of flowers including a lilac garden, herbs, a vegetable garden, bushes, trees, and an ornamental conifer bed.
Regarding tips for your own garden, Staples said Memorial Day weekend is a good time for people to avoid the night frost and start growing their own flower and vegetable gardens, but they should start getting their soil ready and fertilized now.
She also recommends you get a pollinator plant like the purple coneflower, goldenrod, lavender, coneflowers, sunflowers, and many others for your garden to attract pollinators like bees.
Here is a list of some public gardens in Maine to visit for free:
- Pineland Farms Garden in New Gloucester
- Hamilton House in South Berwick
- Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth
- Viles Arboretum in Augusta
- Asticou Azalea Garden in Northeast Harbor
- Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay (has a $20 admission fee)
- Thuya Garden in Northeast Harbor
- Wild Gardens of Acadia (with the Acadia National Park entrance fee)