Mt. Desert Island, part 2, Thuya Garden

After visiting Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island, we next visited Thuya Garden, one of our favorite American gardens. Thuya was designed by Charles Savage and much of the plant material came from Beatrix Farrand's (a famous landscape designer's) Bar Harbor garden when she disassembled it before her death. Thuya has beautiful design and architectural details.

We always stop and admire the opening gates that Savage carved with such care and detail. Being nature lovers, we look at each panel and our favorites are the carved birds.

The Yellow-belllied Sapsucker is accurate right down to the little holes in the tree that sapsuckers make to drink the sap.

One of our favorite panels is this little owl.

Thuya, named for the area's abundant white cedars (Thuya Occidentalis), has a long view of two perennial borders, a scenic garden urn and two viewing houses. The borders are not in full bloom as it is only early summer.

The Iris Germanica captivated us with its vibrant color and unusual swatches of white.

Peony, "Raspberry Sundae" glowed pink with diamond rain drops.

At the top end of the garden there is an asian-inspired viewing house that is peaceful and inviting. We felt as if we could have stayed there all day.

Here is the long view from the viewing house. The garden is surrounded by evergreens, which give a structured backdrop.

Here is a view from behind the urn, across a little reflecting pond. We love the balanced scale of the pond, shrubs, garden urn, and stones that gives a feeling of harmony and peace. Visiting gardens like this is inspiration for our own gardens, as we attempt to create some of the feelings we have in Thuya in our own space.