Boston Flora

Tag: Maine

  • Sunday, May 31 – Friday, June 5 – Hog Island Nature Journaling Summer Camp

    Join The Wild Wonder Foundation for its 2026 Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Adventures, including Hog Island Nature Journaling Summer Camp in Maine on May 31-June 5 with Charlotte Belland @bellandpixel and Michael Boardman @mboardmanart!

    It will be a Puffin Party! Join this birding and nature journaling adventure at Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine, a historic location for birders and nature lovers. With a rich legacy in American ornithology, Hog Island is a fantastic setting to immerse yourself in the world of birds. Explore the region’s stunning beauty through guided walks, boat tours, field sketching, and evening speakers.


    Registration is open, and our trips often sell out in days. Folks on our mailing list are the first to hear when signups open. You can sign up for our mailing list at wildwonder.org/subscribe


    Led by experienced and engaging educators, Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Retreats offer you the opportunity to deepen your nature journaling practice while inspiring you, challenging you, and encouraging you to connect with nature, other nature journalers, and yourself. The vibe is joyful, kind, enthusiastic, supportive, and fun…and nature journalers of ALL experience levels are welcome!

    In 2026, we are excited to offer five retreats: (plus a Sandhill Crane Adventure!)

    — Sandhill Crane Migration Celebration in Nebraska: March 20-22 with John Muir Laws

    —Point Reyes National Seashore, CA: April 27-30, with John Muir Laws and Catherine Hamilton

    —Hog Island, ME: May 31-June 5, Charlotte Belland and Michael Boardman

    — Wolf Ridge, MN; July 12-17 with John Muir Laws and Roseann Hanson

    — Olympic National Park, WA: August 16-21 with John Muir Laws, Debby Kaspari, and Maria Coryell-Martin

    —Sierra Nevada, CA: October 13-18, with Kate Rutter and Rob Wade

    Visit wildwonder.org/adventures26 or wildwonder.org/events to learn more. Registration will open later this month, and our trips often sell out in days. Folks on our mailing list are the first to hear when signups open.

  • Saturday, July 22 – Sunday, July 23, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – York County Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy will sponsor an open day tour of Braveboat Harbor Farm, 110 Raynes Neck Road in York, Maine, and a Cape Neddick Garden on Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23, from 10 – 4.

    This Braveboat Harbor Farm garden has been evolving over the last seventy-five 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 newly expanded pond in the woodland garden, 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, 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.

    In the Cape Neddick Garden, stroll down a curving, sylvan drive with wooded hills on the right and ferns or lower plants as an offset to the woods and a vernal pond area on the left. Take one of the foot trails to find a path along a marsh and the pond. Return to the drive and find rolling lawns and gardens. Then pass between the house and a lily pond on the way to a rocky Maine coast. Walk along the rocks or stay on the lawn in front of the house to pass through a gate onto a grassy walkway bordered by a stone wall, flowers, and shrubs. Ahead and on your right, you will discover a rock-rimmed swimming pool nestled in a grotto below a rocky promontory. Walk around the pool to climb some stairs, or meander up a grassy promenade toward the house, to find the drive once again. Leave the property the way you entered. (NOTE: this property is only open Saturday, July 22)

    For tickets ($5 Garden Conservancy members, $10 nonmembers) and more information, visit www.gardenconservancy.org. Prior registration is required – tickets will not be sold at the properties.

  • Tuesday, January 15, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Camp Benson and the “GAR” Camps: Recreational Landscape of Civil War Memory in Maine

    The Massachusetts Historical Society will host C. Ian Stevenson, of Boston University, along with commentator Ian Delahanty of Springfield College, in an Environmental History Seminar on January 15 from 5:15 – 7:30 at the Massachusetts Historical Society headquarters, 1154 Boylston Street in Boston. The topic is Camp Benson and the “GAR” Camps: Recreational Landscapes of Civil War Memory in Maine, 1886 – 1910. This seminar examines sites where veterans transitioned the Civil War vacation toward a civilian audience: Camp Benson, where several Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) posts built a campground, and at the “GAR Camps” where a single veteran proprietor built rental cottages. The speakers ask why postwar civilians would want to mimic the veteran desire to associate healthful destinations with wartime memory. How do these outdoor landscapes explain the nation’s healing process from the Civil War? The seminar is free and open to the public.

    To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

  • Sundays, May 26 – July 28, 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm – Open Gardens in York, Maine

    The Old York Garden Club will sponsor a series of Open Garden Days on Sundays, beginning May 26 and ending July 28, from 12 – 4, rain or shine.  The cost is $4 per garden, payable at the garden.  The start location is 200 US Route 1 in York.  For more information visit www.oldyorkgardenclub.org.

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AzsY8NWCt3A/TdBnzwHnMgI/AAAAAAAACd0/PpbNBoIqDPY/s1600/YorkshireMuseumGarden.jpg

  • Saturday, June 1 and Saturday, June 8, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Spring Garden Tour in Northeast Harbor, Maine

    The Spring Garden Tour at Waters Edge, 32 Sargeant Drive, Northeast Harbor, Maine (the WP Stewart Estate) features the spectacular blooms of spring in one of the premier, oceanfront gardens in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Take in expansive views across Somes Sound and of the mountains in Acadia National Park. Tickets are $15. Each year the tour proceeds benefit a different local charity – this year the Mount Desert Island YMCA is the host. The gates are open from 9am – 3pm. Yoga will be offered in the garden from 8am – 9am for $25, which also includes the garden tour ticket. Limited space in yoga class. To purchase tickets in advance, contact the Mount Desert Island YMCA at 207-288-3511. For more information, contact Kim O’Brien at  kim@mdiymca.org.  The tour will be held on two successive Saturdays, June 1 and June 8, rain or shine.

    http://www.yachtworld.com/boat-content/wp-content/flagallery/maine-summer-2010/northeast-harbor-15438.jpg

  • Saturday, July 21, 9:00 am – 8:00 pm – Historic Houses and Gardens in South Berwick, Maine

    Massachusetts Horticultural staff members April Daley and Maureen Horn are hosting a bus trip on Saturday, July 21, to South Berwick, Maine, where travelers will receive private group tours of two properties owned by Historic New England. The first is the 1785 Georgian mansion, Hamilton House, a National Historic Landmark, built on a bluff overlooking the Salmon Falls River and surrounded by classic gardens.

    The featured visit is to the Sarah Orne Jewett House, first owned by her family in 1819, on a festive day when the public is being invited especially into its herb gardens. Nancy Wetzel, the House’s Landscape historian, will speak to the group from Mass Hort on the historic importance of herbs and of community herbalists, as seen through the lens of The Country of the Pointed Firs and Mrs. Todd, the novel’s herb practitioner. Afterwards, she will guide us through the garden to provide a sensory experience of the herbs described by Jewett.

    Between house visits, we will stop in Kittery, Maine so that travelers can choose a place to enjoy lunch from a large array of restaurants.

    The tour will start at 9:00 in the Target parking lot on Route 30 in Framingham and return there at 8:00 p. m.

    If you have questions about the tour please contact the librarian, Maureen Horn, at 617-933-4912 or MHorn@Masshort.org. The cost is $110 for Mass Hort members and $130 for non-members.

    Registration will be complete only by an online reservation or check payable to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society by July 2.. Please mail your check to the attention of Maureen Horn at 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482.

    Note: If there are fewer than 20 registrants by July 3 the tour will be cancelled.

  • Friday, July 15, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Making Paper Garden Lanterns, Japanese Style

    Join popular instructor/artist, Nancy Moore Bess at the Berkshire Botanical Garden on Friday, July 15 from 10 – 4 in one of her inspirational workshops. Harvest a few feet of your favorite vines (wisteria, grapevine, akebia, etc.), cut a few narrow branches from your willow tree (think #2 pencil for maximum diameter), and prepare to make a lantern. Using these items from your garden and some cordage, rattan, and handmade papers, you’ll make lanterns. Using acrylic medium and methyl cellulose as an adhesive, allows participants to collage multiple papers into a single skin. Use this beautiful textured paper to cover the frame you will create with your vines and branches. Extra acrylic on the surface can hold dried seeds and pressed dried flowers in place. Participants will add the electrical elements (or LED lights) at home after the structure has dried completely. Materials list available upon registration. Instructor will provide supplementary materials, including willow.)  Lantern below from www.greenteadesign.com.

    Nancy Moore Bess is a master basket maker and exhibits her baskets worldwide. She has championed Japanese basketry in the west and is the author of Bamboo in Japan. She teaches basket making workshops throughout the United States including Haystack School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine. Her popular workshops always sell out. Register online at www.berkshirebotanical.org (BBG members $75, nonmembers $85).

  • Sunday, July 17, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Bar Harbor Garden Club Garden Tour

    The Bar Harbor Garden Club will host a garden tour on Sunday, July 17, from 10 – 4, beginning on Route 3 in Bar Harbor, Maine. Proceeds go toward club supported causes, such as Beatrix Farrand Society, Butterfly Park, Jr. Enrichment Programs, Student Conservation Camp, Scholarships, Student Conservation Association, civic plantings, Mt Desert Island Land and Garden Preserve and Wild Gardens of Acadia. Tickets are $20 each, and you may obtain additional information at www.barharborgardenclub.com, or by telephoning 207-288-9689. Bar Harbor garden image below from www.gardendesignonline.com.

  • Wednesdays, June 8 through October 26, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Farmers’ Market Tour and Cooking Class

    Stonewall Kitchen will host Farmers’ Market Tours and Cooking Classes on Wednesdays, starting June 8, through Portland, Maine’s Monument Square.  Travel and Leisure Magazine has crowned Monument Square one of the top ten Farmers’ Markets in the country.  The educational walking tour will focus on Maine’s agriculture, and a cooking class at Stonewall Kitchen, featuring freshly picked produce and other native foods, will follow the tour.  For more information, call 207-879-2409, or log on to www.stonewallkitchen.com or www.MaineFoodieTours.com.

  • Friday, March 4, 5:30 pm – The Land Use History, Flora, and Natural Communities of the Isles of Shoals

    Bill Nichols, Senior Ecologist/Botanist of the New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau will address the New England Botanical Club on Friday, March 4, beginning at 5:30 pm in the Haller Lecture Hall, Room 102, Harvard Museum of Natural History, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge. He will speak on the topic The Land Use History, Flora, and Natural Communities of the Isles of Shoals (Rye, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine.) The meeting is free and open to the public. For maps and parking directions, log on to www.rhodora.org.