How her garden grows | The newest offering at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens focuses on sprouts
Photo/Tim Greenway
Maureen Heffernan, executive director of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, expects the new children's garden will generate hundreds of new memberships
Perhaps it was a literary foreshadowing, but one of Maureen Heffernan’s favorite books from childhood was “One Morning in Maine,” by Robert McCluskey. Last week, she expected to have her own memorable morning in Maine, presiding over the opening of the Bibby and Harold Alfond Children’s Garden at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.
“There’s been a lot of buzz; I think people will be blown away by it,” says Heffernan, executive director, just days before the opening. “There’s nothing like this children’s garden in the Northeast. I expect it will draw visitors from Boston, Portsmouth and beyond.”
The children’s garden — complete with a tree house, boat pond, bean tunnel, caves, chicken coop, story barn, Wabanaki wigwam and, of course, plants — is the latest phase of the three-year-old garden in Boothbay started by a handful of optimistic volunteers 14 years ago, says Heffernan. Through their hard work and willingness to take risks (several put up their homes as collateral to get the loan to purchase the 248-acre site), the garden has grown to become one of Maine’s lushest tourist destinations, earning the Maine Office of Tourism Award for Commitment to Innovation and Creativity this winter.
“When people talk about a creative economy, I think this is what they mean,” says Heffernan. “Part of our mission is to be an economic development force.”
The $1.4 million garden project employed contractors, engineers, landscapers, designers, artists and others for the past year and half, in the depths of the recession, says Heffernan. Year-round, the garden employs 17 full-time staff, a number that doubles during the summer months when it is in full bloom.
Heffernan worked previously at the Cleveland Botanical Garden and the American Horticultural Garden in Alexandria, Va., where her experience designing gardens with a team made her eager to try her own project. In 2005, she got the chance, becoming the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens’ executive director.
“Not only did I have the chance to live in Maine, which is so beautiful, but also I had a chance to now put my money where my mouth is and start a new garden from scratch,” she says. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime.”
The garden opened to the public in 2007, a meandering network of themed gardens, woodland trails, riverviews and art. That year, Heffernan says she expected 25,000 visitors and was astounded when the tally reached 40,000. In 2008, there were more than 48,000; in 2009, 57,000. Membership stands at 3,800 — a hair under Cleveland’s 4,000, she notes.
But she expects that will increase by hundreds as families discover the children’s garden and realize kids can spend hours there and not die of boredom. “This is not a science museum moved outdoors,” she says. “Education is first and foremost, but we want kids to unplug, let them play and discover their own imaginations.”
The children’s garden was financed by a $1.5 million challenge grant from the Alfond Foundation, which the botanical garden was able to match through fundraising, says Heffernan. Not that she can take a breath, now.
The garden is in the midst of a $24.5 million capital campaign to create an endowment to help it meet its $1.2 million annual operating budget and to finance its next project: an 8,000-square-foot platinum LEED-certified education center and solar power generation system.
“We’ve raised $17.5 million so far,” says Heffernan. “Obviously we have to grow our endowment to balance our operating budget. Our gardens need a lot of maintenance and we have very high standards.”
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