The Garden Conservancy will sponsor a two day garden tour of six gardens in York County, Maine on Saturday, July 24 and Sunday, July 25 from 10 – 4.  Entry to each garden is $5, and advance tickets are not required.  For complete information, log on to www.gardenconservancy.org.

Howells-Metz Gardens, 9 Lawrence Lane, Kittery Point, Maine

The property overlooks the Piscataqua River and Pepperell Cove. The landscaping joins four houses and outbuildings with lawns and gardens that flow into each other. An English conservatory is used for starting seeds for vegetables and annuals.There are rhododendrons and azaleas and shrubs along the houses. Other gardens include a rock garden, a rose garden, borders along a rocky ledge, a vegetable garden with flower borders on two sides for cutting, and an herb garden. In most places daffodils appear in the spring, giving way to day lilies in the summer and annuals (zinnias, asters, dahlias) in the fall. A swimming pool near the beach is filled with salt water from the sea. The family has lived here for some ninety years and currently the houses are occupied by four generations.

Seapoint, 6 Seapoint Road, Cutts Island, Kittery Point, Maine

Seapoint is a gardener’s garden overlooking a creek, salt marsh, and the ocean beyond. The property was once part of one of the original saltwater farms on Cutts Island and is nestled alongside of one of the region’s most beautiful wildlife refuges. The garden features an extensive variety of flowering specimen trees, shrubs framed by meandering paths, and intricate stonework.

Directions:
About 5 miles from I-95 in Maine, take Exit 2 to Kittery Point. In 0.25 mile enter rotary and exit on Route 236/Kittery Point. Route 236 becomes Route 103. Continue straight across bridge and pass CITGO gas station. In 0.25 mile take fork to right (there are signs for Seapoint). Go straight as road winds around. Pass sign for Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge. Once past sign, garden is at second house on right, #6.

Braveboat Harbor Farm, 110 Raynes Neck Road, York, Maine (below)

This garden has been evolving over the last fifty years. It surrounds and complements a Georgian-style stone house. There are formal and informal borders, a vegetable garden, orchards, and collections of various flowering trees and shrubs. Apples and pears are espaliered on the house and along the walls of the formal front garden. Water features include a goldfish pond in an old septic tank, a farm pond with rustic bridge, and the Atlantic Ocean. This treasure is protected by a sculpted arborvitae hedge on the northwest, a mature stand of hickory on the northeast, and an extensive screen of old lilacs on the south. New projects include expanding the collection of magnolias and rhododendrons, introducing hydrangeas, an espaliered pear fence, a woodland walk, a new pond at the north end of the woodland garden, and a summerhouse with views to the pond and the sea.

Directions:
Located off Route 103 South and Braveboat Harbor Road to end of Raynes Neck Road. Please park in field below house.