thumb|Map of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, 2023
alt=The circular paths on the lawn in the Children's Garden at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.|thumb|The Bibby and Harold Alfond Children's Garden at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.
thumb|Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, May 2015
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden in Boothbay, Maine. It was opened in 2007.
The gardens have been named one of Maine's top attractions. Its gardens and landscape include nearly a mile of tidewater shoreline.
After 16 years of planning, planting, and building, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens opened on June 13, 2007. This project began in 1991 when a group of Maine residents founded the grassroots organization. In 1996, after a thorough search for an appropriate site, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens purchased of land with of tidal shore frontage in Boothbay.
Today, as the largest botanical garden in New England, the gardens comprise , 17 of which are gardens featuring native plants of Maine and other plants suited to northern coastal conditions. Yearly, the gardens see on average 200,000 guests from throughout the United States and (in 2018) 63 foreign countries.
The Haney Hillside Garden opened in 2006, but the Patriot's Day Storm of 2007 brought down dozens of mature evergreens. The garden was completely renovated in 2010–11. Six thousand native plants were installed in the upper areas while the lower areas near the shoreline rely primarily on editing of the natural vegetation. Haney Hillside Garden was designed by landscape architect Bruce John Riddell Designed by landscape architect Herb Schaal, it's less than an acre in size with winding paths and changing elevation. The paths circle around and through five distinct regions designed to emphasize each of the senses. The garden also features several designs to facilitate its use by physically challenged guests, including brick paving with continuous striker stone bordering the path to help the visually impaired navigate the garden, while providing a smooth, hard surface and gentle slope for wheeled mobility aids.
In July 2010, the Bibby and Harold Alfond Children's Garden opened. It encompasses two acres of woods, ponds, and theme gardens inspired by well-known children's books by Maine authors, including Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee (Chris Van Dusen), Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man and Blueberries for Sal (Robert McCloskey), Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White), and The Stone Wall Dragon (Rochelle Draper), among others. Designed by Maclay Architects of Waitsfield, Vermont, and Scott Simons Architects of Portland, Maine.
The Great Lawn was inspired by the nineteenth-century landscape parks. One of its most distinctive features is Whale Rock, a massive formation of Bucksport schist that rises out of the grass at the southern edge of the lawn. This area also features Founders Grove, a planting of seven narrow pin oaks, blueberries, and grasses commissioned to honor the founders of the Gardens. It is the first Dambo exhibit to open in New England, and features five trolls with a theme of biodiversity and sustainability. Each troll has its own Danish name — Roskva, Birk, Gro, Lilja, Søren — and represents a different part of a tree. The tallest of the group is about 28 feet high. On at least four occasions, a third-party inspector witnessed "instances of unclean water in protected wetlands and significant vernal pools", as well as "inadequate steps being taken to prevent erosion; and the unlicensed construction of a 'plunge pool' in a freshwater wetland area". To make the expansion possible, large areas of wetlands (including of "critical terrestrial habitat of eight significant vernal pools") were permanently altered.