About The Heirloom Garden of Maine

      Hello, we are mother-daughter team, Sandy George and Diana George Chapin.  Over the years we have tended our farm, the word stewardship has meant a great deal to us.  We founded The Heirloom Garden of Maine with concern for preserving heirloom plant varieties, pure plant lines, equitable access to vital seed and food security. 

   Our seed and plant nursery—quite fittingly—sprung out of the ground on a farm settled by a soldier of the American Revolutionary War. Phineas Bean and his wife Hannah Clifford Bean emigrated to Montville from Candia, New Hampshire around 1804.  Together with many others, the Beans helped build the community, forming and serving in the town government, laying out roads, and building the meetinghouse and school.

 Many of the plants in our farm's collection have practical uses and were historically used for food, medicine, fragrance and dye.  Others are ornamental.  Some are native to Maine and this continent, while others were brought here with the earliest settlers.   The mission of The Heirloom Garden of Maine is to preserve, propagate & perpetuate heirloom varieties for future generations. We save seed from the plants in our nursery and propagate plants by division so we can share the plants in our collection with gardeners near and far. 

    Through our Farm Annuals we offer hundreds of varieties of annuals, perennials, vegetables and herbs—our greenhouse-grown seedlings, field dug perennials and seed from the Seed Savers Exchange of Decorah, Iowa.  Issued each January, gardeners pre-order their plants from our Farm Annual before March 31st and schedule pick-up for their order in May.  Early bird gardeners who place their order by February 24th each year receive discounts over regular season prices.   In fall, gardeners order species tulips and other heirloom bulbs and chrysanthemums from our Autumn Annual.  Around the middle of November, we issue our Holiday Annual, which is full of decorated wreaths, garlands and other holiday decorations, as well as Maine-crafted gifts from artisans and other Maine companies.  We invite you to join our mailing list by signing the guest register in our shop or by emailing your contact information to us at: info@theheirloomgarden.com.  Please call us at 207-342-2116.

    We enjoy sharing our knowledge of heirloom plants, seed saving, gardening for bees, butterflies and other pollinators and historic landscape design.  If your group would like to hear more about our presentations, please call or email.  Thank you for visiting our website.