Thursday, August 18, 2011

Thuja Gardens


Thuja Gardens are public gardens of the Mount Desert Land & Garden Preserve on Mount Desert Island, Maine. This preserve was originally owned by Boston Landscpae architect Joseph Henry Curtis and he built three residences on the property including the beautiful Thuja Lodge (perhaps the coziest and most charming house I have ever seen?). Curtis also designed the Asticou Terraces which are stone terraces, paths, and granite stairways built on the side of the cliff leading up to the lodge and garden. After his death, Charles K. Savage was appointed trustee of the preserve and he designed and built the long borders (semi-formal herbaceous borders in the spirit of England's Gertrude Jekyll) and woodland plantings that became Thuja Gardens.

The head gardener today is Priscilla Hutton and is someone who I was fortunate enough to work with in the beginning of my gardening days at the Landscape company Deer Meadow twelve years ago. She was in charge of the greenhouses where all the annuals were grown and she was responsible for planting some of the best pots and containers I have ever seen! She is a really good gardener and she has done an amazing job at Thuja, the garden looks incredible! I ran into her at the garden and she showed me some of her favorite plants and new annual introductions.

 

The Long Borders in full swing.






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