Opening on May 1 for the 2024 season.
Viburnums are an important genus in New England landscapes, offering essential habitats for wildlife and attractive seasonal floral and berry displays. Join Lon Ames, horticulturist for the Haney Hillside Garden, in his online class to learn about native and non-native viburnums that can be used in your garden borders. Discussion will include sizes, habits, ecological benefits, and characteristics that make viburnums stand out in your displays.
This class is sold out, but please click "Learn More" to join our waitlist. | A core understanding of plant biology will open up the world of plants for any gardener. Through discussion, lecture, and hands-on lab work, this class begins with basic plant anatomy, exploring how every aspect of a plant works to sustain photosynthesis, respiration, and water and mineral uptake.
Plants interact with their garden environments, from abiotic influences like temperature, pH, humidity, and sunlight to biotic influences like other plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and even humans. This two-day hybrid class teaches how plants adapt, compete, and depend on these influences. You'll learn concepts like parasitism, pollination, plant adaptation, and dispersal. Class Level: Intermediate to Advanced.
Guided by ecologist Ted Elliman, this comprehensive, two-day hybrid course will introduce students to natural plant communities, their defining physical environments, the plants living in them, and the natural processes affecting them. Online discussion and hands-on field work will evaluate the variety of plant communities throughout Maine and how this information influences your gardening choices. Class Level: Intermediate
Ferns are commonly used to add elegance, texture, and an ethereal feeling to any shade garden, and did you know there are thousands of fern species? To learn more about fascinating fern ecology, genera, species, and cultivars, join Bill Cullina, former Director of Horticulture and President & CEO of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, now Director of Morris Arboretum at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of Native Ferns, Mosses, & Grasses for a captivating slideshow and garden tour exploring the extensive inventory of ferns at the Gardens. Class Level: All Levels
Visit one of Maine's few remaining Sandplain Pine Barren communities, and you will learn how to identify endemic native plant species and how to recreate elements of this native plant community in your home landscape. If the weather permits, we will see dozens of pollinating insects and birds, so bring your hand lenses and binoculars. We'll have extra on hand if you don't have these items. Come prepared with sunscreen, water, and good walking shoes. Class Level: All Levels. Suitable for teens 14+.
Weeds, by casual definition, are undesired plants found in a specific location. Delany Pitman, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Horticulturist, leads a combination of field study and lecture discussing the perception of weeds, identification, cultural management, and ecology. You'll leave with a broader understanding of what & why plants are commonly known as "weeds" and whether they might be embraced or removed from a garden or landscape. Class Level: All Levels
The first step to gardening with Maine’s native plants is meeting them in their wild habitats. Over this three-day in-person class, Melissa Cullina, the Gardens’ Director of Plant Science & Collections, will help students recognize around fifty frequent coastal species. As a staff botanist, Melissa will cover plant identification skills, terminology, and botanical etymology. Through guided walks, both at the Gardens and a Boothbay Region Land Trust property, students will practice skills and collect samples for identification and botanizing native species. Class Level: Intermediate-Advanced
Milkweeds and goldenrods adorn our New England landscapes from July through October in shades of white, pink, and yellow, providing beauty and valuable nectar and pollen to native pollinators. Native plant ecologist and botanist Ted Elliman will lead students through a deep dive into the botanical and ecological lessons of these genera and species through a lecture, slideshow, and outdoor field study. Class Level: Intermediate-Advanced
Invasive species are considered highly undesirable by botany, ecology, horticulture, and conservation professionals—and for good reason. In this three-part course, Amanda Devine, Regional Land Steward for Maine Coast Heritage Land Trust, will identify the basic ecological problems surrounding these aggressive, tenacious plants. We'll discuss the complicated, and sometimes political issues, and how a plant becomes labeled "invasive." Class Level: Intermediate-Advanced
The mission of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is to inspire meaningful connections among people, plants, and nature through horticulture, education, and research.
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