Two working members of the Wild Gardens Committee. The Wild Gardens of Acadia Since 1961 the Bar Harbor Garden Club has toiled to preserve the native flora of Mt. Desert Island. By Betsy Mitchell J ust south of Bar Harbor on the eastern end of Mt. Dorr set aside and incorporated the area adjoining the Desert Island you'll find the Wild Gardens of Sieur de Monts brook as the "Wild Gardens of Acadia." In Acadia. Covering three-quarters of an acre his words, this was for "the purpose of making a adjacent to Sieur de Monts Spring, the gardens contain permanent exhibit of scientific, educational, and artistic over 300 plant species indigenous to the island. value for the public benefit of trees, shrubs, herbs, and In 1916 the spring was designated a National Monument other plants of striking scenic features." and Mr. George B. Dorr was appointed superintendent. In 1919 Lafayette National Park was created. It was the 36 MaineLife May/ June 1983 Finishing the sweep, the sheep are herded into the driftwood corral. nervous animals around the 100 acre the rest of the flock. As we came up this island where the lambs cannot be island was not on the day's agenda. the rise we saw that the once-scat- monitored. Captain Benny and I were partners; tered sheep were becoming a herd of With the banding completed, each we were to cover the elbow of the slow moving, baaing creatures--lambs lamb was handed to Jenny who sweeping arm. The people in the hand calling, ewes answering. wormed them using a metal syringe position began loping steadily along The sweeping hand closed in: the filled with liquid medication. Jenny the outer reaches of the island, elbow bent and the shoulder lined up then counted them, and set them free carrying driftwood sticks like African with the funnel mouth. We continued to wander confused and calling for hunters in search of prey. Happily, in, holding our driftwood spears their misplaced mothers, lamenting Benny and I had a strolling position; horizontal to make a floating fence. this strange day and uncomfortable we walked over the tussocks slowly, The sheep, seeing no escape behind, business. The mothers were marked weaving in and out and around thick turned and hurried towards the with color on their foreheads so they clumps of blue iris, following paths corral. Whistles, shouts, and baas could be shorn first, and released to made by grazing sheep. reached a crescendo, as we, sighing a their lambs. The fresh summer beauty was all breath of relief, closed the last gates Waiting for the shearing to begin, I around us. Seagulls were nesting on the sea of white wool. The sweep leaned on the corral fence burying my throughout the tufts of grass, and the had taken 28 minutes. fingers in the sheeps' woolly backs. ground was littered with newly hat- We now formed a lamb brigade. Here was a wealth of wool, fog ched downy chicks. We had to watch Brad or Donna or Mike would wade washed, white, and gently curling every step for fear of crushing one. through the blatting, woolen mass, through my fingertips. My love of Benny, kneeling ahead, called for me reaching for lambs hidden below in wool stemmed from learning to spin to look at what he had found. A the forest of legs. After lifting them my own yarn. My interest led to puzzled chick sat on a tussock with a into a separate area, each one was curiosity about the animal that grew tiny silver fish protruding from its checked for soundness and an elast- the wool, and I apprenticed myself to beak. With hands as big as his heart, rator used to dock tails and scrotum. a sheep farmer in southwestern Benny removed the fish and pinched Maine. There I participated in lamb- it in small pieces, feeding it slowly to An elastrator is a plier-like tool that ing, and learned how to shear. the hungry chick. spreads a strong rubber binder, Shearing Begins I looked up to see a ewe's (female enabling binders to be placed on the Tom, Donna, and I began setting sheep) head appearing over a hilltop, tails or scrotums and then released. up our shearing equipment; greasing ears perked and nose sniffing, fol- The binder restricts the blood flow to the blades on our electric clippers, lowed by several more attentive sheep the area which eventually (usually one plugging in extension cords to the gas also looking warily at us. Back to the week) falls off. This method leaves no job at hand, we moved slowly forward open wound to become fly-blown or urging the straying beasts towards infected, particularly important on Continued on page 78. May/June 1983 MaineLife 35 tional park in the Northeast. Ten years later it was ned Acadia with George Dorr remaining as super- edintent. Dorr planted the area with lilac and other n-native plants, and lined the streams with rocks. This was how the gardens rested until the fire of 1947 swept over, leaving a legacy of blackberry bushes and fire scarred red maples. In 1960, due to concern over the ever-growing list of endangered plants, a member of the Bar Harbor Garden Club suggested a wildflower growing competition to the other members. The challenge was accepted, and a year later Harold Hubler, then superintendent of Acadia, agreed to make Park space available for a wildflower garden to specifically feature native flora. The area of the original Wild Gardens was chosen. Marsh Marigold account of Dorr's Wild Gardens, and a $50 balance. This unexpected "seed" money, augmented by gifts and the proceeds from semiannual plant sales, helped to pay for labor and upkeep. Mt. Desert Island is an area rich in beauty with plant life typical of the arctic, subarctic, and Hudsonian regions of America. Many reach their southern limits on Acadia. Black crowberry, creeping juniper and rose root are examples of these northern adventurers. In addition some southern plants like pitch pine, bear oak and sweet pepperbush reach their northern limit on the island. By design, the gardens are "interpretive," with various garden areas landscaped to represent specific environ- ments. They are labeled for easy identification. Lady's Slipper Since its "new" inception in that fall of 1961, the Wild Gardens of Acadia has been a women's venture. The Park Service helped with paths, labels, and hauling rock (so the mountain habitat might be more authentic in an otherwise rockless site), but it was the women, armed with hoes and spades, who did the digging, clearing and planting. It was also the women who dipped water from the brook for thirsty transplants that first garden year, before the job of watering was simplified by the faucets installed by the Park Service. Soon after its birth, the need for a governing body to make the decision of what plant should go where was recognized. A loosely organized committee was set up to include representatives from other garden clubs as well as the Park Service. The committee inherited an old checking Wood Lily May/June 1983 MaineLife 37 As far as possible natural methods are used in the garden. The Wild Gardens of Acadia is the first interpretive garden of its kind in a national park, and is an outstanding example of maintenance of native flora. In 1973 the Bar Harbor Garden Club was given the Kellog award by the National Council of State Garden Clubs. In 1979 a Certificate of Appreciation was presented by the National Park Service "in appreciation of the many years of developing the Wild Gardens of Acadia, an effective environmental project." In 1980 the garden was chosen to represent Maine in Washington D.C. at Exhibition 50, sponsored by the National Council of State Garden Clubs. And in 1980 the New England Wildflower Society Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Conservation was presented to one of the originators of the garden who, like most of the plants and flowers she nurtures, prefers anonymity over the spotlight. She insists that all the women of the club must share in that award. Visitors to the garden can expect to find flowering plants May through September: from the trilliums, violets and marsh marigolds of spring to the mountain cranberry, fireweed and arrowhead of fall. Some rarities to be found in the garden are beaked hazlenut, bristly sarsaparilla, one-flowered pyrola, beachhead iris, and roseroot. The Wild Gardens of Acadia offer the kind of reward only a garden can. It's a place of beauty. It's a place you'll visit often. Other gardens on Mt. Desert Island: Azalea Gardens, Northeast Harbor; Thuja Gardens, Northeast Harbor; Rockefeller Gardens, Seal Harbor [open one day a week in George B. Dorr, superintendent of the original Wild August]. You should contact the Bar Harbor Chamber of Gardens of Acadia. Commerce regarding days and hours the gardens are open. Photos courtesy of the Bar Harbor Garden Club. The first habitat developed were those of the roadside, meadow, mountain and conifer. Later the women added the mixed woods, ferns, dry heath, brook, pond, marsh, bog and beach habitat. There is also an area designed for birds where foods such as chokecherry, elderberry, Some Plants to Expect hawthorn and others are planted. For a time garden in the Wild Gardens members hoped to include an Indian garden to demonstrate all the plants used by the American Indian, but according to National Park regulations nonnative plants are not allowed entry into a National Park. Early May--trilliums, violets, rosybell, rhodora, The very first flower planted in the fall of 1961 was a bluebead lily, Mayflower, buckbean, skunk cab- purple fringed orchis rescued from the path of a bulldozer. bage, march marigold. Like the initial orchis, garden plants were collected Late May and early June--herb Robert, shadbush, from nature wherever destruction was threatened. Using jack-in-the-pulpit, lady's slippers, three-toothed Edgar Wherry's Wild Flowers of Mt. Desert (published cinquefoil, columbines, blueberries, polygalas, bun- 1928 by the Garden Club of Mt. Desert) as the authority on chberry, bog laurel. indigenous species, the garden committee compiled a "plant wanted" list and sent it to friends and members. Late June and early July--Canada lily, sandworts, They spent countless hours in the field collecting meadow sweet, meadow rues, lambkill, rose specimens. pogonia, grass pink, arethusa, blueflag iris, bog In 1965, Dr. Wherry visited the garden on his 80th rosemary. birthday. His enthusiasm for the project inspired the club members, and provided them with much needed Late July and early August--touch-me-nots, moun- recognition and encouragement. tain cranberry, fireweed, sea lavender, purple Today, some 15 years after Dr. Wherry's visit, over 300 fringed orchis, callas, arrowheads. native plants are established in the garden, and more than 600 visitors stroll the garden paths yearly. A small nursery Late August and September--asters, goldenrod, area is maintained where some plants are started from cardinal-flower, pitcher plants, baneberry, sweet seed. Weeds and brush are composted in large bins near pepperbush. the garden and later returned to the garden as compost. 38 MaineLife May/June 1983