Open Garden Days at historic district garden provides opportunity to nurture life

BELFAST — When Ruth Heffron and John Vernelson moved back to Maine in April 2022, the house they bought at 92 Pearl Street in Belfast had a good basis for a garden. Within months, the garden went from skeletal to spectacular, and on Saturday, July 27 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., visitors are welcome to see how they did it. The garden is part of the Belfast Garden Club Open Garden Days.

The $5 admission to the garden helps to support the club’s public service projects throughout the year. The event will be held rain or shine. Season passes will be available for $35 on site.

Former owners of The Compass Rose Bookstore in Castine, Ruth and John employed Kate McLeod Garden Design to help them realize their vision. The previous lawn, both front and back, was smothered by cardboard and sheets, then topped with mulch and pea gravel. Lilacs which had failed to thrive in the back were moved into the front yard perennial garden, where a sunny southern exposure also allowed hydrangeas, two peach trees, willows, nine-bark, elderberry, and a beauty bush.

In the back, “we cut down numerous small Norway maples and extended the yard, building a stone wall and adding hemlock, viburnum, rhododendron, and shade-loving perennials,” Heffron says. “In 2023, we took out the asphalt driveway, replacing it with stone and adding an area for other plantings and an herb and vegetable garden.”

“We aren’t formal,” the longtime gardener and artist says. “We love color, variety.  Hopefully, the garden shows a love of regeneration, pollinators, whimsy, and color. It provides a continuing opportunity to nurture life.”

Open Garden Days will be held each Saturday through Aug. 17. For the complete Open Garden Days schedule, visit belfastgardenclub.org . Proceeds support the garden club’s school programs, camp scholarships, library donations, and the 13 public gardens in Belfast that are maintained by club volunteers.