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| Karen Crook Matthews © 2024 |
| 2024-07-22 061 Abby & Henry Wilder; Garden Day, Islesboro ME |
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566 Main Road The property was originally part of a 67-acre parcel owned by Teri Bates, 62 acres of which was sold to the Trautman family (owners of the adjacent farm) in 1962. ln the early sixties, she built the original house on the property she had retained. Yeaton Randlett was the builder (and soon-to-become neighbor). David Blanton purchased the property in 1985, living there until we bought it from him in 2010. David did a great deal of work to the house over the years, expanding the living areas, adding the deck on the water side and enlarging the cottage. David worked very hard in the garden, doing much of the work himself, opening the view, installing irrigation, planting flowering trees (including two beautiful dogwoods--the state flower of his home state of Missouri), creating a parking area, installing window boxes and enhancing the two large perennial beds by the front door and adjacent to the garage. Many pots of red geraniums could be found all around the house. Having the great fortune of acquiring a place that had been lovingly cared for, we had the opportunity to adapt the place to the needs of our family of five (now nine!). Over the years, we have reconfigured the interior, created a more defined front entry, and enlarged the deck on the south side of the house. ln 2012, we put in a dock. The most recent project was an expansion of the guest house, which was completed in 2023. The garden continues to be a work in progress and likely always will be! Henry's initial vision for the garden continues to define its development. He works in the garden every day, even handpicking hundreds of stones from what was the old driveway and is now the grass between the house and the cottage. Because of my obsession with dahlias and peonies, we put in a peony bed in front of the kitchen windows with plants from my mother's (Mary Homans) garden on Aldrich Road. Behind one of the perennial beds, a parallel bed was dug to accommodate the unrestrained dahlia order that I placed one year. We changed the foundation planting on the water side of the house, removing the rosa rugosa [beach roses] and replacing it with a variety of perennials inspired by (and some transplanted from) my mother's rock garden. We keep tying to get blueberries to grow in the shaded beds toward the water and every year, we get a few more. Henry built the rock-edged beds near the cottage. After jerry-rigging fencing to keep one of our Labradors from eating all of our tomatoes, Julia Olson came up with the idea for a small, fenced garden right on the water's edge for vegetables (and more dahlias...). The peony and dahlia "problem" lead to two more beds being dug adjacent to the small vegetable garden. Every July, I morph into Barbara Cooney's "Miss Rumphius," spreading lupine seed along the driveway, across the street, and down the road. It actually seems to be working, which has been incredibly satisfying! David worked originally with Deece Ruggles and then with Julia Olson who, thank goodness, agreed to continue with us. A delight to work with and extensively knowledgeable about plants, Julia and her wonderful crew have executed our vision in more in more ways than I can count. Art Govoni became our caretaker in 2011. He and his son Arthur, son-in-law Tom and crew have been responsible for a lot of the "heavy lifting" (literally), and Art has overseen all of the construction involved in the original remodel, parking area, cottage expansion and much more. In the retail world, I am a huge fan of what was Endless Summer Flower Farm and is now Dooryard Farm (dooryardfarmmaine.com) in Camden...most of the dahlias come from there. Julia, who patronizes all of the local nurseries, is particularly fond of Fernwood Nursery and Gardens in Montville (fernwoodnursery.com"), which was the source of many of the plants around the parking area. Buck at Plants Unlimited in Rockport (plants-unlimited.com) "always comes through with trees and and shrubs." She also likes Guini Ridge Farm in Rockport (guiniridge.com). Most of our peonies, the original batch of lupine flower heads and assorted other treasures, came from our favorite nursery...the garden at 110 Aldrich Road...my mother's place, now my sister's. Abby Wilder |