On the grounds of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, there are a number of freshwater wetlands where, in April and May, some notable symphonies are heard. Join CMBG’s wetland guardian, Bridget VerVaet, to explore our wetlands and learn more about the perishable, too-often forgotten underwater life that thrives there.

To provide safe, in-person classes at the Gardens, classes are held entirely outdoors and have been reduced to 12 people. We are practicing social distance protocols.

Rain Date: Saturday, May 22, 2021 from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Do you have a hard time identifying one variety of birch from another? Did you know we have five different species of birch growing in Maine? Join District Forester Allyssa Gregory in a field study tour of the Gardens’ trees, and learn more about forest culture and where to find common species growing in different regions of the state. Discussion will include identification of tree species during the growing and dormant seasons, distinguishing features of evergreen species, and the ecological and economical functions of our forests.

Allyssa Gregory is the Maine Forest Service’s MidCoast District Forester. She obtained a forestry degree from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Her professional background includes rural forestry, urban forestry, horticulture, and structure firefighting. Allyssa is involved with the Tree Farm program as a certified inspector and is a Project Learning Tree facilitator.

To provide safe in-person classes at the Gardens, classes are held entirely outdoors and have been reduced to 12 students. We are practicing Maine CDC social-distancing protocols. Rain date: Saturday, June 12, 2021

Our heritage trees of Maine are under a great amount of stress, dealing with inclement weather and infestations of pests. Is there anything we can do to help preserve and support these species? Come take a walk through CMBG with forest pathologists and entomologists from the State of Maine, Aaron Bergdahl, Colleen Teerling, and Tom Schmeelk, to learn more about the health of Maine’s forests and what a landowner or concerned steward can do to help.

Join us outside with our Lepidoptera specialist, Alicia Miller, on an interactive tour through the Native Butterfly and Moth House and adjacent pollinator garden to discover the many different species calling CMBG home.

In this field-study course, join Sarah Callan on a walking tour of the Gardens and discover the diversity of bees in the landscape, bee identification, pollinator preferences, bee anatomy and behavior, and the latest research into these important pollinators.

Wetland plants are wildly diverse and beautiful—take the marsh marigold or the wild calla, the latter related to the traditional calla lily sold by florists. Join us for this field-study class with plant ecologist Ted Elliman and develop skills to identify freshwater wetland plants, developing an understanding of their growing conditions, habits, and seasonal performance. Gain a deeper appreciation for the ecological value of these often-overlooked species.

Ted Elliman has been engaged in botanical work in New England and other northeastern states for more than thirty years. Most recently, he was a botanist and plant ecologist on the staff of the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts, where he conducted botanical inventories, natural community surveys, invasive species control programs, and helped publish Wildlfowers of New England.

To provide safe in-person classes at the Gardens, classes are held entirely outdoors and have been reduced to 12 students. We are practicing Maine CDC social-distancing protocols. Rain date: Friday, August 6, 2021

Led by Ted Elliman, author of Grasses, Sedges and Rushes, An Identification Guide, participants will learn how to identify and better understand New England meadow plants. This is the perfect class for those interested in starting or sustaining an open grassland.

Plants of salt marsh communities are uniquely adapted to tolerate and survive the stress of repeated, daily salt-water flooding. Learn which members of our wild flora can withstand these harsh conditions and the various mechanisms they’ve evolved to cope with—and even thrive in—environmental conditions that would kill most plants. Melissa will lead you on a low-tide botanical journey into an iconic and vulnerable Maine habitat. Please wear boots or sneakers that can get wet (and maybe redolent of the salt-marsh…).