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Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens | Gardening with Gutner

  • June 14, 2022

Field Trip! Gardening with Gutner travels to Boothbay to see the beautiful Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

BOOTHBAY, Maine — You can’t be a gardener in Maine and not visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

When Gardening with Gutner visited, the rhododendrons were in full bloom in the Giles Rhododendron & Perennial Garden which includes more than 175 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas. 

NEWS CENTER Maine Chief Meteorologist Todd Gutner, host of Gardening with Gutner, asked about the challenges the gardens faced this winter. 

“Lack of snow cover was the biggest one,” Andy Brand, the director of horticulture, explained. “No insulation, so the plants suffered, But it gives us an opportunity to plant new things to show our visitors.”

Interesting fact: While walking through the rhododendron garden, Gardening with Gutner learned from Brand that all azaleas are rhododendrons but not all rhododendrons are azaleas. 

Brand revealed that after the rhododendrons, peonies, poppies, and cone flowers all bloom. 

“There’s so much flowering in June here in the gardens,” he said. 

Gutner next visited the famous trolls hidden in the woods at the gardens. Created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo using recycled wood. The five trolls, named Roskva, Lilja, Birk, Soren, and Gro, are the Guardians of the Seeds with a message of conservation. 

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“The trolls are going to be here for five to seven years depending on how quickly they break down,” Brand shared. “They’ve got such a good message to protect the environment, encouraging us all to be good stewards of the land.” 

The Bibby & Harold Alfond Children’s Garden is a big attraction at the gardens for its appeal to children. Included in the 2 acres is a learning garden, greenhouse, chicken coop, a terrace planted with a rainbow of flowers,

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