Turrets Seaside Garden

“A large granite bench overlooks the Turrets Seaside Garden at College of the Atlantic. In the distance a string of islands stretch across Frenchman Bay to Schoodic Peninsula. Above the garden stands the historic The Turrets. The campus extends uphill, but the garden, concealed behind The Turrets, has a sunken, secluded atmosphere.” So writes Eamonn Hutton ’05, who took on the restoration of the 4000-square-foot garden as his senior project . Hutton recreated the formal bedded out pattern of the garden but chose plant material that would require less maintenance and be unappealing to the deer that frequent the campus. Using the subtle, contemplative pinks, purples and blue-grey tones of lavender, astilbe, fairy roses, nepeta and Siberian iris, Hutton followed a color scheme typical of the blue-grey gardens described by noted garden designer Gertrude Jekyll.

In 2009 a central fountain, created by COA alumnus Dan Farrenkopf ’95 of Lunaform Pottery, was installed in the space where a long-lost fountain once stood.