Touring Gardens in Cape Elizabeth Maine
Perennials grow better in Maine than anywhere I have visited, and they look great with classic Maine summer “cottages”.
Every summer my husband Michael and I attend a garden tour while we are visiting Maine. I have written many posts on Maine gardens on Mount Desert, around Camden, in the Brunswick area, and around Casco Bay, among others. If you would like to see the beautiful photos in those articles, just type “Maine gardens” into the search bar under “Search My Website” on the right sidebar of this website (if the sidebar isn’t visible, click the snowdrop banner at the top of this post).
Nursery News: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
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Maine summer “cottages” can be quite large!
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This year we attended the Cape Elizabeth Garden Tour presented by the Fort Williams Park Foundation. Cape Elizabeth is a beautiful, ocean-side suburb of Portland with many interesting gardens and homes. Here are just a few scenes from the tour:
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The house in the first two photos featured lovely perennial gardens and this incredible view of Portland Harbor. The lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor, fondly known as Bug Light, is just visible in the upper left corner of the photo.
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a close up of the pool plantings
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great color combinations
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A compact annual cleome or spider flower was sprinkled through out this garden. Garden tours are a great way to get ideas for your garden and find out about newly introduced plants.
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If only we could grow white birches like this in southeastern Pennsylvania.
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Ninebark and nepeta look lovely together.
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scenic garden shed with climbing roses
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Almost every house on the tour had spectacular ocean views.
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Lavender thrives on a sunny, seashore but can’t live in the sunniest spot at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens.
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fabulous color combination
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The next post will feature a house and garden tour on Little Diamond Island in Casco Bay off Portland, Maine, and after that it’s back to Mount Desert.
Carolyn
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Nursery Happenings: You can sign up to receive catalogues and emails about nursery events by sending your full name, location, and phone number to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information. Please indicate if you will be shopping at the nursery or are mail order only.
Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.
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CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
August 17, 2017 at 12:07 pm
Thanks Carolyn, you’ve brought back many fantastic Cape Elizabeth memories. I’ve climbed many of those outcrops and even braved the icy waters of some of those coves between the bug light and two lights, and it was always a great summer there.
It has gone upscale though. Back in the day it was more of a lobsterman crowd with fewer gates and fences and more open land to wander and explore. Ferry rides to explore the old forts were always an adventure.
August 18, 2017 at 10:19 am
Frank, some areas of Maine have gotten very exclusive but there are still many parts that are undiscovered and not fancy. Glad you could relive your youth. Carolyn