New England offers many beautiful gardens. While visiting the individual gardens, you might want to think about the feeling the gardens elicit. The Longfellow Garden provides a quiet Oasis in the city. Polly Hill Arboretum is vast and offers a more “wild” view of nature. Finally, the Shaker Village gives a glance into the past, and perhaps a hint of the future. Each of these are completely unique and very beautiful in their own way.
Longfellow Garden
As you travel throughout New England, you’ll want to visit Portland, Maine. This fine city is home to the Longfellow Garden. This recreation of a Colonial Revival-style garden is located behind the Wadsworth-Longfellow House; Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow used to live in the home.
The home and gardens had been donated to the Maine Historical Society in 1901 but a garden club was finally formed in 1924. The garden had been long neglected and now was surrounded by tenements, a theater and other new buildings. Myron Lamb, landscape architect, was hired by the garden club. The club then started a fund for the garden’s maintenance; its members have been taking care of the garden since then.
In 2007, the on-site library and Maine Historical Society home needed to be restored. The garden had to be dismantled. There had been one lilac growing there since prior to 1901, but it had to be removed. Luckily, it was successfully moved to a local garden center where it was cared for. It has now been replanted in the Longfellow Garden.
Polly Hill Arboretum
Polly Hill was a legendary horticulturist who started this botanical landmark by planting one seed. Eventually twenty acres were planted and another 40 acres were preserved as native woodland in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The focus of the Arboretum is studying and cultivating plants, as well as preserving the hard work Polly put into the area.
The Arboretum is home to many rare trees and shrubs from all around the world. The meadows and fields, with their plantings, and the stone walls combine with the trees to create a magical, character-filled setting. Visitors love to look at the perennial borders, Julian Hill magnolia and the monkey puzzle tree.
If the natural stone walls speak to you, you can recreate them in your own yard. While you may not have twenty acres to divide, you can build a retaining wall or raised bed using stone. You might want to simply add some stone to your existing landscaping to get the same feel.
Canterbury Shaker Village
Vegetable Gardens were first planted in Canterbury, New Hampshire in 1795 and they have been cultivated there ever since. You can visit these historical gardens, and the herb gardens that accompany them, in the Shaker Village Canterbury Shaker Village. The items grown in the garden can be purchased in the Shaker Box Lunch and Farm Stand.
