BOOTHBAY, Maine — Rodney Eason wants people to stop and smell the clematis, see the dinner plate dahlias, walk through weeping European larch, rub their hands over prairie grass and inhale.
As director of horticulture and plant curator at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, he conducts a silent symphony of color, texture, shape and scent.
“Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts,” Eason said recently, walking through the garden of the five senses on a hot Friday afternoon. To keep the 120 acres in Boothbay lush and blooming, he is busy on many fronts.
“It’s a bit like being a chef,” he said. But after a traipsing through the colorful, showy gardens and mossy, wooded trails, a conductor might be more apt. Eason oversees a visible orchestra of 15 cultivated acres that “goes beyond genre.”
“When people come they are seeking beauty, and that’s the key thing. Beauty aspires to a divine nature that people are looking for in their lives,” Eason, who was hired in October 2012, said.
Many come seeking an escape from noise pollution and overcrowded cities. As environmental resources continue to dwindle and urban living proliferates, greenscapes brimming with healthy ecology would be in greater demand. He knows that many of us, even in Maine, suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder and fears that we as a society are “losing that primal touch.”
He reaches down to a radiant head of dark green kale and tears off a leaf. The taste is so fresh it’s ethereal. Onto the reflexology labyrinth.
Just as a walk in the woods is touted as a key form of wellness for physical and mental fitness, “when you walk through a spruce pine forest and you hear the wind hit those needles, your blood pressure drops,” Eason said.
Coming from the storied Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, Eason is working for a startup in the botanical world. At 8 years old, Coastal Maine Botanical Garden is still finding its footing and growing day by day.
“There is so much buzz today with startups,” Eason, a North Carolina native, said. “And so much tied into the Maine coast.”
His relationship with plants is akin to his relationship with his co-workers. Walking through the gardens, he is sensitive to moods and performance. When it comes to flora, he touches spruce, smells herbs and evaluates all displays for balance.
Eason shares his delight in all things botanical with the workers, who are eager to show him a marvelous genetic mutation of a snapdragon, for example. This is not a science museum, but it’s not just about looks, either.
“We record how different plants change during the season,” he said, which goes into a database of plant performance. All told, 200,000 plants are mapped and inventoried.
Many areas are a “composition in progress.” As we walk through one landscaped garden, he realizes it needs more “whomp” and passes this along to a gardener. It’s a lot to keep track of. They plant more than 30,000 annual bulbs, many of which are tulips, and 12,000 summer annuals.
Along with the ceaseless unfolding rhythms of nature, the botanical garden is shifting, too.
The remaining 150 acres of wild space will be cultivated in years to come. A majority of the current parking area will transform into ornamental gardens including a conservatory, Eason said. An LED light show called Gardens Aglow is planned for November and December. Future concepts include a culinary center and the opening of a historic farmstead on the property.
“As much as there is here today, there is so much potential,” Eason said. “This is for the people, designed by the people. It’s not an oligarchy. A group of people got together and said we want it to be in Maine. One of the beautiful things about gardening here on the midcoast is rather than start with a flat slate. It is a beautiful landscape to itself.”
