Michael Dirr (photo by Dot Paul)

Quercus rubra (William Cullina photo)

Flowering fruit tree (photo by Renae Moran)

Trees can be the greatest – and most rewarding – investment you make in your gardens, adding structure, shade, color, and even fruits!  If selected and cared for properly, trees will add elegance and enjoyment to your landscape for generations to come. We’ll gather at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens on Saturday, June 29, to experience inspiration and learning from noted experts.

Our keynote speaker, renowned woody-plant author and expert Dr. Michael Dirr, will inspire you with his lecture and images of ornamental “Noble Trees.”

Next, you’ll meet the Gardens’ new Director of Horticulture, previously of Longwood Gardens, Rodney Eason. Since so much can go wrong when selecting and installing trees, Rodney will present practical “Essential Details for Buying and Planting the Best Trees” to help you choose and cultivate healthy trees. 

Finally, Maine’s own fruit tree expert, Renae Moran of the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension, will delight you with ideas for how to “Incorporate Fruit Trees into your Edible Landscape.”  She’ll introduce the surprising array of fruit trees that can be grown in northern landscapes – and right in your own yard.  Books will be available for sale.  

Where:   Bosarge Family Education Center
Price:      $80 members, $100 nonmembers –  includes continental breakfast and box lunch from the Kitchen Garden Café and Gardens admission (preregistration required)

Using a microscope is a great way to explore nature. (Erika Huber photo)

Kids who love exploring the outdoors, learning new outdoor skills, and geocaching will love Nature Explorers Camp. From 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. each day, young explorers will expand their knowledge of the natural world during this inquiry-based week of outdoor activities. Using the Gardens and its surrounding forests and shoreline as a platform for investigation, we’ll spend the week exploring, geocaching and honing outdoor skills. As a final project in this fun-filled, skill-building week, campers will use these skills to create a series of caches for all Gardens guests to enjoy.

See an overview of all our 2013 camps for various ages.

Where:    Bosarge Family Education Center and grounds
Price:       $170 members, $200 nonmembers (includes Gardens admission for one child each day of camp)  

Campers have fun while learning. (Erika Huber photo)

We’re offering two weeks of Nature Adventure Camp for two different age groups. Our summer nature camps provide lots of fun, as well as enriching opportunities for young people to learn about the natural world. 

During each Nature Adventure Camp week, half-day sessions from Monday through Friday fully engage children in an outdoor setting, while encouraging imagination and creativity through garden walks, stories, games, arts-and-crafts and nature-related projects. We’ll dig in the dirt, scope out the pond and take a walk through the woods to discover just who calls these habitats home. By the end of the week, Nature Adventurers will be well on their way to becoming young ecologists!   

See an overview of our 2013 camps for various ages.

The camp for ages 4-5 is from 9:30 a.m.-noon. The sessions for ages 6-8 are from 1:00-3:30 p.m.

Where:    Bosarge Family Education Center and grounds
Price:      $105 members, $130 nonmembers (includes Gardens admission for one child each day of camp)