An abundance of colorful perennials and annuals blooming right now. Here are just a few pics of some gardens at our oceanfront Bed and Breakfast Inn Camden, Maine.

This garden has developed over 15 years of planting, back breaking lifting, dividing, & transplanting.  Like all of our gardens we are never fully satisfied with all the colors and textures within, it is a continual work in progress.

Lavender plants border this colorful garden filled with Asiatic and Oriental Lilies, Poppies, and Rudbeckia.

Guests are greeted with a beautiful mix of colors at our guest registration entrance. Nearly all of our annuals are started by seed, most of which are purchased from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Winslow Maine, then germinated and nurtured in our greenhouse until planting day.

Many colorful varieties of sunflowers dot numerous spaces around our Inn. We have created a special haven for all kinds of birds, bees, butterflies, and moths. It is an incredible sight to watch all of the hummingbirds zoom around like fighter jets from garden to garden and it’s especially enjoyable watching them quench their thirsts from our garden hose while we are watering the plants.

This perennial garden is set on the eastern side of our property and contains a water feature that attracts green and brown frogs.

All of the gardens that we have created have been done the old fashioned way with hand tools,  pick axes, shovels etc.. With that being said, over the years we have amassed a hefty amount of rocks and boulders from the earth while preparing new flower beds. These stones are saved and piled in an area for future use. Every stone wall and stone feature, and we have quite a few, is our creation using the stones and rocks unearthed over the years.

This garden is situated on the northeastern side of our property and features a cherub fountain at the end of the crushed granite pathway.

The pathway wyes out to lawn and our grape arbor, apple trees, cutting flower garden and one of our vegetable gardens containing squash, basil, swiss chard, pole beans, bush beans, snow peas, and pumpkins!

Plenty of squash to sustain us through the winter and the pumpkins will decorate the entrance to our Inn come Fall Harvest season.

Lots and lots of raspberries were harvested from our raspberry patch here in Midcoast Maine.

We have to pick daily just to keep up with them.

Naturally, we could not possibly consume all these fresh berries at once, so many are frozen in batches for later use in all kinds of fun culinary creations such as raspberry mustard, raspberry champagne vinegar, raspberry sorbet, and of course jam. Currently, I have been incorporating some of the fresh raspberries in baking recipes. Here are a couple of tasty and very simple ones if you don’t want to fuss too long in the kitchen.

This buttery raspberry corn bread with a sprinkle of sugar on top is lofty and easy to make.

Raspberry Cornbread Recipe:

• 1 cup plus 2 T unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 T for sprinkling
• 3 T honey
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 milk
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam

8 x 8 pyrex that has been lightly coated with melted butter or high-heat canola-oil spray.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and position a oven rack in the center.

Place softened butter, 3/4 cup sugar, and honey in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs; beat 1 minute more.

Whisk flour, cornmeal, and baking powder together in a medium bowl; add to butter mixture in mixer bowl. Beat until combined. Fold in raspberries. Spoon half of the batter, it will very be stiff, into an 8 x 8 pyrex and do not pack it down just even it out gently. Dollop jam all over and then spoon the remainder of the batter on top and even out. Brush the top lightly with cold water and sprinkle the 2 T of sugar on top.

Bake until the top is browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 min.

Raspberry Buckle(Crumb Cake) With A Crumb Topping:

This is not sweet so it is suitable for breakfast of afternoon tea.

Crumb Topping:

• 8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and still warm
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour

Cake

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, at room temp.
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 half-pint basket fresh raspberries

The Crumb Topping: Whisk the melted butter, sugars, cinnamon and the salt together in a medium bowl. Stir in the flour with a spoon until the mixture resembles a thick dough. Set aside 15 min.

The Cake: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and position rack in center of oven. Lightly coat an 8 x 8 pyrex with high heat canola oil spray. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to blend thoroughly. In a small pan melt the butter and lemon zest. Remove from heat. Add the buttermilk to the melted butter mixture and set aside 2 minutes. Pour the butter mixture into a medium bowl, add eggs, vanilla, and whisk until well blended.

Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix carefully and slowly until blended. Fold in raspberries. Pour batter into prepared pyrex.

With your fingers break and roll the crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces and spread  an even layer over the batter.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Hiking Up To The Cross

The trail to the summit is only 1 mile and affords scenic views of Megunticook Lake, the interior and coastal mountains with distant views of Penobscot Bay.

Access to this trailhead can be found off route 52 in Camden, however you may take longer hikes through various trails within the Camden Hills State Park trail system to reach Maiden Cliff.

The trail is not difficult yet steadily climbs upward through the woods over rocks and tree roots.

Along the  way  you will cross over a wooden footbridge. This time off year it is relatively dry however in the spring there is usually a steady flow of water rushing under the bridge.

Plenty of exposed tree roots along this part of trail.

Halfway along this trail one of the other trails intersects. We stay on course to the cliff.

At the summit gazing at interior mountains and pristine Meguntiook Lake.

Distant views of Penobscot Bay and Islands to the south. The cross was erected some years after Elenora French fell off the cliff and died in 1864.

Incredible opportunity to see Osprey, Eagles and Turkey Vultures soaring just above, below, and at eye level.

Cedarholm Garden Bay Inn is on the oceanside and just 1 mile from the incredibly beautiful Camden Hills State Park. To download a trail map click  here.

Roasted Garlic Scapes

It’s an exciting time of year in our vegetable garden when our garlic crop begins producing those mild and delectable scapes. If you don’t grow your own garlic they can be commonly found at farmers markets. Although there are countless ways to incorporate scapes into recipes and various cooking methods, our favorite way  is to roast them. By doing so it brings out a most subtle and delicious deep garlicky flavor. We call them garlic scape frites.

If left untouched the tip of the scape will develop into a top heavy seed pod laden with several pea-sized seeds.  When the seeds mature they will drop to the ground, root themselves, and eventually produce tiny garlic plants. It takes several years before a seed can produce a bulb worth harvesting. If anyone is interested we will post photos of this growing sequence.

Clipping the garlic scapes puts the plant’s energy into the bulb (develops a larger bulb) and not the seeds. We clip the scapes promptly after they curl before the seed head (white tip) puffs out. This ensures tender scapes not tough and stringy ones.

After the garlic scapes are rinsed they are chopped into 3-4 inch pieces and placed into a large bowl. The arrow is indicating a scape that got away from us and would be too tough when cooked for our liking so we enjoy watching it transform its shape in a vase.

A judicious amount of olive oil, kosher salt, and sugar are added to the chopped scapes then tossed and scattered onto a baking sheet. They are placed into a preheated oven at 425 degrees and roasted for approx. 25 min.(we have a large heap) checking and tossing several times with tongs in-between to ensure even roasting.

We let them roast until the tips get crispy.

We love roasted garlic scapes  as a side dish with practically anything, this time around they are served with marinated and grilled strip steaks with crispy roasted panko encrusted little red potatoes.