Take time to smell the flowers during annual garden tours throughout Maine. While most tours occur on only one day each summer, a few are spread out over the season. Hint: Buy tickets in advance, when possible, as they usually are less expensive (but do note that tours are usually rain or shine, so you take your chances on the weather).
Updating for 2024 is in progress. Updated May 2, 2024
2024 Maine Garden Tours
McLaughlin Garden Annual Lilac Festival
What: View more than 125 different varieties and more than 200 lilacs. Tour on your own or join the 11 am Lilac Care Guided Tour led by horticulturist. See site for other festival activities.
When: May 24-27; 10am-4pm
Cost: $5 admission
2024 Woodfords Community Garden Tour
What: Tour more than 10 gardens on a self-guided tour of 10+ gardens throughout the Woodfords Corner Community: Back Cove, Deering Highlands, Oakdale, and Deering Center.
When: June 8, 2024; 1-4pm (June 9 rain date)
Cost: $20 donation is suggested, but pay what you can.
Peony Society of Maine Garden Tour
What: details to come.
When: June 8 and June 15, 2024; 10am-3pm
Cost:$5 donation per guest appreciated; benefits Peony Society efforts to educate and propagate.
What else: Tour begins at 1348 Ohio St., Bangor. One peony plant will be raffled at the end of each tour.
Belfast Open Garden Days
What: One garden in greater Belfast is open on Saturdays.
When: 10am-4pm Saturdays, June 22-Aug. 17, 2024
Cost: $5 suggested donation per garden or season ticket for $35; a check or exact change is appreciated. Proceeds benefit maintenance of 12 local public gardens and scholarships for Waldo County students studying horticulture and related subjects.
What else: No restrooms at gardens. No dogs. Photography allowed only with permission.
Celia Thaxter’s Garden Tours on Appledore Island
What: Walking tour of the restored garden of 19th-century poet and writer Celia Thaxter, author of An Island Garden.
When: Fridays June 28, July 5,12, 19, and Aug. 2; Saturdays July 6, 13, 20, 27, and Aug. 3
Cost: $125, includes parking, round-trip transportation from New Castle, N.H., guided tour, and buffet lunch.
What else: Participants access the island via a 45-minute cruise aboard a research vessel and, once on the island, walk 2-3 miles over rugged terrain. Reservations must be made at least 2 weeks in advance, and each tour is limited to 33 participants. Reservations open March 25.
Open Days at Garland Farm, Bar Harbor
What: Garland Farm, the ancestral home of Lewis Garland, property manager for landscape architect Beatrix Farrand’s famed Reef Point property, and Farrand’s home and gardens. Farrand moved here after dismantling Reef Point in 1955, and worked with architect Robert Patterson to design the addition where she lived, utilizing some of the architectural pieces and furnishings she saved. The house, library, and garden are open to visitors for guided house and self-guided garden tours as follows.
When: Thursdays, noon-3pm, June 20-Sept. 19 (excluding July 4), 2024
Cost: $5 donation
Hidden Gardens of Historic Bath
What: 19th annual self-guided tour of gardens in Bath
When: June 22, 2024; 10am-2pm
Cost: $40 available online; benefits Sagadahoc Preservation, Inc.
What else: This year’s tour will feature gardens in North Bath
The Garden Conservancy Open Garden Days
What: Self-guided tour of Beckett Castle Rose Garden in Cape Elizabeth. This oceanfront garden comprises more than 70 varieties of heirloom roses. A 50-foot-high stone tower entry gate doubles as a rose arbor. Sylvester Beckett built the neo-Gothic house in 1871.
When: June 29, 2024; 10am to 4pm
Cost: $10, tickets available as of April 1
What else: Visitors should wear sturdy shoes and expect uneven terrain and unpaved paths. They must traverse an upward slope to exit the garden. The property is home to Hogfish, a nonprofit regenerative arts movement. Live music will be performed during the day.
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden Open Garden Days
What: Self-guided tour of the Walled Garden and The Eyrie Terrace, the former home site of John D. Jr. and Abby Rockefeller, Seal Harbor, on Mount Desert Island. (Note: This is one of my favorite Maine garden tours)
When: July 9-Sept. 8, 2024; noon-4pm Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday for public; reservations open May 20. Members can schedule visits noon-4pm Friday and Sunday; member reservations open May 6).
Cost (2023): $15 adult, $10 ages 65 and older, free kids 12 and younger; reservations open May 20 for nonmembers, May 6 for members.
What else: Membership in the Land and Garden Preserve has benefits that are worth checking out; rates begin at $50 ($25 ages 65+ full-time students, year-round MDI residents, and active military). Check out the perks, such as free or very discounted passes) and consider joining for early access to reservations, even if you’re only going to be visiting for a short period.
Wiscasset Homes on Tour
What: Private homes in Wiscasset village, Alna, Dresden, Edgecomb, and Woolwich.
When: July 13, 2024, 11am-4pm
Cost: $30 + processing fee. Available online in advance or on the day of the tour.
Secret Gardens of the Kennebunks
What: Tour six private gardens in a wide variety of styles and plantings. a pop-up garden boutique and lunch from the Texas Grace food truck will be available.
When: July 13, 2024; 10am-3pm
Cost: $40 in advance online or at the library, day-of tix available at Kennebunk Consolidated School; benefits Graves Memorial Public Library.
What else: Begin at Kennebunkport Consolidated School (24 School St.), get a details map and instructions.
Camden House and Garden Tour
What: 75th annual tour presented by the Camden Garden Club. Tour six private gardens with a variety of landscaping, planting styles, and architectural structures and an emphasis on sustainability and native plants.
When: July 18, 2024, 10am-4pm.
Cost: $45, tickets available online May 1
What else: This year’s tour features the Norumbega Inn, Camden’s castle by the sea. Also participating is Merrysprig Nature center. In addition: immersive exhibits and presentations and local musicians performing at each stop; schedule to come.
Brunswick in Bloom Garden Tour
What: self-guided garden tour of Brunswick gardens
When: July 20, 2024, 10am-3pm
Cost: $35
What else: A garden party follows the event. Benefits free medical and dental services provided by Oasis Free Clinics
Garden Club of Mount Desert Open Garden Day
What: Tour six gorgeous gardens in Seal Harbor
When: Saturday, July 27, 2024 10am-4pm
Cost: $50, tickets available May 1
What else: benefits nonprofit organizations promoting horticulture and/or conservation projects.
2023 Maine Garden Tours (awaiting 2024 info)
Bar Harbor Garden Club Tour: Gardens by the Sea
What: Visit six gardens
When: Held on odd-numbered years; next tour 2025
Cost: $40 in advance (available in June); $45 day of tour; benefits island nonprofits protecting natural resources, addressing food insecurity, and fostering dedication to horticulture among youth.
What else: Free parking and shuttle service.
Cape Elizabeth Garden Tour
What: Self-guided tour viewing eighty gardens with ocean views, backyard wildlife habitats, native plants, woodlands, stonework, etc.
When: July 15, 9am-4pm
Cost: $30, available online; benefits Friends of Fort Williams Park.
Other possibilities
Castine House and Garden Tour
What: Tour homes and gardens in the village.
When: held every few years
Cost: $XX; benefits Castine Historical society.
Secret Gardens of Kennebunkport
What: Tour six private gardens in Kennebunkport including an abandoned granite quarry, a historic riverfront home, a wooded wonderland, and yards with sweeping ocean and harbor views.
When: ???; 10am-3pm
Cost: $to come/advance; benefits Graves Memorial Public Library.
What else: Details to be confirmed: Kennebunkport Conservation Trust annual plant sale at 57 Gravelly Brook Road: perfect for shopping, grabbing lunch from Beach Dawgs and dessert from Gemini Cakes. Tourgoers are encouraged to avoid the parking crush by visiting the gardens on the trolley that will be looping past the stops to drop off and pick up visitors.
Hidden Gardens of Munjoy Hill
What: Self-guided walking tour of select private gardens on Munjoy Hill; begins at Fort Allen Park on Portland’s Eastern Promenade
When:
Cost: benefits Friends of the Eastern Promenade
Friends of the Rockland Public Library Open Gardens
What: Self-guided tour of gardens in the Rockland area. Ten participating gardens, each with its own schedule.
When:
Cost: Donation jar at each participating garden. NOTE: Please wear a mask when visiting gardens. Donations benefit Friends of the Rockland Public Library initiatives.
Cost: $5 donation recommended
Boothbay Region in Full Bloom
What:
When: Postponed to 2025 due to storm damage
Cost: $35 in advance, $40 day of tour; benefits scholarships for advanced education in ecology, marine biology, horticulture, botany, and earth sciences as well as YMCA Camperships for local children.
*****
Gardens Aglow
What: Holiday light extravaganza at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
When: mid-November to late-December.
Cost: XX adult, XX ages 3-17, $XX age 65+, $XX family including 2 adults and 2 children; for specific date and time. Also available are premium flex tickets, valid whenever garden is open: $XX adult, $XX child, $XX senior, $XX family.
What else: It’s truly worth planning a visit around this annual event, which coincides with Boothbay Lights.
*****
Past tours (I check in regularly to see if resuming)
Raymond Garden Tour
What: Self-guided tour of seven local gardens
When:
Cost: benefits Raymond Village Library
Salt & See Art & Garden Trail
What:
When:
Cost: Free, donations encouraged to benefit Old South Meeting House. Pick up maps at Bernard Langlais Preserve or Cushing Historical Society.
Open Doors of York House & Garden Tour
What: Old York Historical Society’s tour visits private homes and gardens in York.
When:
Cost: $??/advance, $??/day of tour; benefits Old York Historical Society
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