Lynn WiezyckiOur first full day in Maine was a busy one. It was Sunday and most of the best spots in Acadia National Park were very busy. Since it was very overcast all day we decided the best course of action was to visit the…
2 botanical gardens in Northeast Harbor. Flower photography is much better on a cloudy day!
I was a bit concerned since we were visiting so late in the flower season but I was very surprised to see a good number of flowers still blooming at both gardens.
Thuya Garden
We stopped at Thuya Garden first. We parked in the lower parking lot and made the climb up the mountain.
The view from the trail and mushrooms we found along the trail made the somewhat steep climb worth every step!
It took us a while to get up the trail…way too many things to shoot along the way! But we finally made it up to the entrance to Thuya Garden.
After just a few steps into the garden, I knew we would have plenty to photograph here!
There were not as many flowers as there were when we had visited in September but still, it was overwhelming. I spoke to one of the volunteers and she said that they plant the gardens to stretch the season as long as they can!
The cold weather at night meant that there would be no hummingbirds or butterflies this time, but there were many bees and other insects still feasting on the flowers.
They still had a variety of dahlias blooming as well as some other species.
I had my infrared converted Nikon Z6 with me so I had to take some IR images.
We finished up at this gorgeous garden and made our way back down the trail.
Asticou Inn
Once back down at the main road we decided to stop at the Asticou Inn and hopefully get one of their famous popovers. But unfortunately, we were too late, they were all out! So I spent some time shooting the flowers in their garden. They had some of the larger dahlias still blooming and a few other species.
Asticou Garden
From there we walked across the street to Asticou Garden. This is primarily a spring garden as it is an azalea garden but there were some trees showing fall colors and a few flowers blooming!
We were so totally lucky that the hours we spent at these gardens had been overcast! We did not have to deal with bright sun and extreme shadows at all. This is one of those situations when you need to be very flexible with your “schedule” of places to visit. The weather and most importantly, the light, is what determines what we do each day. That is one of the reasons we give ourselves a week at a location and also try not to make too many plans that are dependent on a specific time. Doing that can limit the photographic opportunities that are successful.
I highly recommend a visit to these gardens and hopefully, you will be lucky enough to have an overcast day and the Inn will have popovers! Popovers are a must while in Maine!
For more information on Thuya Garden please visit their website. For more info on Asticou Garden please visit their website. And for info on Asticou Inn check out their website.
From the gardens, we decided to head to Southwest Harbor for our 2nd Lobstah Rolls of the trip but we made a quick stop along the way. My next post will be about that stop and some images I made around dinner!
That is all for now!
Lynn
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