The second botanical garden on our road trip to Nova Scotia were The Wild Gardens of Acadia. Jake and I first visited Acadia National Park 11 years ago after we had just moved in together. It was an energetic trip filled with hiking mountains, climbing rocks, and picking wild blueberries. This time we had less than 24 hours in the park because we had a lot of miles to cover in the rental RV! We spent the night at Seawall Campground and strolled unexplored trails on the “quiet side” of Mt Desert Island. Before a delicious lunch at Cafe This Way and light shopping in Bar Harbor, we spent the morning hiking and touring the Wild Gardens.
The gardens are divided into natural habitats like ‘bog,’ ‘roadside,’ ‘meadow,’ ‘mountain,’ and many more. Within each parcel is a collection of the native and wild plants that call these northern landscapes home. The garden was very well labelled and we learned a lot about the familiar but previously unnamed plants that we see every day on the side of a trail.
We hurried through the garden in under an hour, and didn’t take many photos, but even a relaxed pace would probably not require more than 1.5. There is lovely hiking in the area just beside the gardens; your choice of a flat stroll or up the stone stairs of Homan’s path. We chose the stairs, and a view at the top!
