ecotropy: Central Maine Botanical Gardens

A few weeks ago, my family and I were nearby the Central Maine Botanical Gardens and spent the afternoon exploring its different gardens. I remember visiting the site before anything was there - about 7 years ago, and was astounded by the creativity and work that went into creating such beautiful spaces - from piney Maine woods - which are beautiful in and of themselves.

I was heartened to see the area devoted to gardening for those with mobility challenges. The only other example I had seen of this was at the Chicago botanic garden. The garden beds were around 2.5' - 3' tall and there were spaces inset into the walls for people with wheel chairs so they could reach the beds. I appreciated the attention paid to the walking surface and that there was shade there at mid-day as well. The vistas of the neighboring garden were nice as well - with generous areas to stop and take it all in. From the photos, you can see that I was really interested in the modular planting cages inset into the vertical garden frameworks. It inspiring to think that in tiny spaces and anywhere, there are straight forward options to grow in any plane or space. I think that the way these were constructed was particularly successful - because of the simplicity and elegance of design. I am looking forward to trying some experiments in this vein out myself, and down the road perhaps adding a green roof to our house like the one in the second photo down.