Helen, Sharon and I drove up to Pineland Farms, located in Gray, Maine, to check out a garden Helen had heard about it. Located about 30 minutes north of Scarborough, Pineland’s garden contains a vegetable garden, a flower garden of annuals, perennials and evergreens, and a small collection of fruit trees and plants – all contained in a white fenced garden.
As soon as we walked through the entry gate, we saw a charming circular vegetable garden that centered on a large trellis begging for a pole bean or tall tomato plant. I’m not sure what they’re planning on putting there… The plants were organized in groupings – lettuces, artichokes, tomatoes, onions and peppers, to name a few. I loved the way it looked, including the straw covered pathway.
The flower garden contained meandering pathways through many well-known flowers – peonies, day lillies, delphinium, phlox, masterwort, coreopsis, astilbe, nepeta and New Guinea impatiens, to name a few. Interspersed amongst the perennials were some annuals (alysum and petunias), which we all agreed were disappointed to see… One bed contained all evergreens, which was unusual and interesting.
The fruit included crabapples and blueberries. I didn’t bother to learn the name of the blueberry variety because my Napa valley garden would require a completely different variety in order to be successful. I did notice that they were also protecting their blueberries with bird netting. KEY.
My favorite plant in the garden? ‘Pillow Talk peonies‘ for the name, as much as the beautiful pink flower. Truly lovely.
