Gardens

Mount Desert Island is home to many world-famous gardens. The Azalea Garden has 20 different varieties of azaleas as well as an extensive variety of native plants and trees and a Japanese sand garden. In the Asticou Azalea Garden azaleas, rhododendrons, mountain laurels, and heathers were used to transform a swamp into a stroll garden.

The Charlotte Rhoades Park & Butterfly Garden is located on Norwood Cove at 191 Main Street, Southwest Harbor.The information box at the entrance to the garden has brochures and other helpful material. From mid-April to mid-October, volunteers are on site each Thursday morning (weather permitting) from 9:30 AM-11:30 AM to share information about the garden and butterfly activity (which changes daily).

The Thuya Garden is a combination of formal English flower beds with informal Japanese effects. Shrine-like pavilions, a pool, tone jars and tubs are set against a background of Maine woods, tucked artfully into a mountainside.

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden sits atop a wooded bluff in the Maine village of Seal Harbor. With its Spirit Path and English-style flower garden, it is an unusual blend of Western and Eastern elements.