Nancy and I took advantage of some time off last week to stop by the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay.

We knew there wouldn't be much in bloom in mid-November, but the bones of the garden are still great, and we had a nice fall walk.

Highlights of the trip were getting a chance to check out the bones of the Garden of the Five Senses, which is now under construction. And we also walked on a new path, which goes south of the Meditation Garden for about a half a mile with the Back River on one side and a long vertical ledge on the other. It is all natural, with nothing planted that I could see, but it just was a nice place to walk on a good fall day.

Nancy took some photos of some plants she liked.

This Pieris, or andromeda, is "Brouwer's Beauty," and will hold these red flower buds all winter until they turn to white flowers in the summer. While most of the garden color was foliage, it was nice to see some buds.

We were surprised to see these "Lipstick" barren strawberries in bloom this late in the season. You have to be up close to notice them, but they were quite nice.

Nancy liked the way the moss was growing on the rock under this Asian-style ornament.

And the grasses always look good during the off-season.

I know it is a little out of season, but Sunday's column was about rhododendrons, because we recently attended a talk at the Maine chapter of the American Rhododendron Society.

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