Garden Magic!

When you think of botanical gardens you imagine plants, right? ...especially flowering plants, gardens and gardens of them. Trees and shrubs abound, of course, probably greenhouses, a butterfly house if you're lucky, educational displays, paths and benches - all delightful -  but it's the flowers that I eagerly anticipate. 



​From the minute Drew and I entered the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay last week, we were surrounded on all sides by them. Dazzling blooms in shapes and colors that must feel like a candy store to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

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I breathed in happiness, felt the warmth of end-of-summer sun on my back and thought that nothing could feel more magical.

​Then we crossed a bridge, walked down a forested path and came face-to-face, or face-to-foot with a troll. No need to worry, though, even when I squeezed her toe.  
As far as trolls go, she's just a baby, obviously hoping to get a hug or two from passersby. 

We followed children's laughter deeper into the forest until we came upon a standing stone welcoming us to a Fairy Village.  

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​Beyond, the entire clearing was buzzing with children's energy as they collected sticks, rocks, pine cones and any other natural material they could find to construct the fairies' houses.  

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There were single fairy homes, multiple fairy complexes and an impressive, ever-growing  rock structure – perhaps for music, dancing and forest merriment.

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​Parents tried coxing their children to leave the construction site and continue the garden tour; but  once under the spell of Imagination, nothing else can compete.  That night fortunate fairies would sleep snugly in their new homes, and children would dream of fairies.

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As our day at the Gardens was ending, we meandered toward the entrance through mounds of hydrangeas and around a spiral of dahlias.
​Drew even found his own troll.

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