Richard B. Zieg
Director of Horticulture

Flowers have been the focus of Dick’s life since childhood. His family was involved in the National Dahlia Society and the National Chrysanthemum Society, growing both types of flowers for competition. He learned flower arranging from his mother, who taught the neighborhood children in the summer.

Dick accumulated quite a collection of silver awards at the chrysanthemum shows as a young boy. He had his sights on a horticulture degree from the time he was fourteen years old and later worked his way through the University of Maryland horticulture program at USDA Turf and Grass Investigations in Beltsville, Md. Various landscape companies in the Washington; D.C. area provided the “hands-on” experience needed to build a botanical garden.

After moving to Maine, Dick shared innkeeping chores with his wife, while also working for a landscape contractor in Surry. In 2003 he was hired as the first full-time employee to work outdoors at the Gardens and began the process of building and maintaining what you see on the grounds today.