Garden design for historic homes

We design gardens for old Maine homes & historic places.

Old Maine Gardens specializes in creating perennial-rich gardens filled with heirloom and historically appropriate plants for old Maine houses and homesteads, inns and churches, meetinghouses and museums, lighthouses and other storied places.

Projects are guided by the age and character of a place, horticultural knowledge, a keen understanding of historical context, and a practiced eye for texture, color, composition, and restraint.

Around these houses, gardens wait.

In Maine and New England, old homes stand weathered and rich with story: timber frames raised by hand, silvered clapboards that lean against years of wind, stone steps that hold memories of frost and footfall.

Around these houses, gardens wait.

Our work

A complete, historically informed planting plan for your property, ready for implementation by you, your landscaper, or installation team.
Every project begins with a conversation. We’ll talk about how you live, how you want to use the garden, what you love, what you need, and what you hope this particular piece of land might become. Together, we’ll develop a vision for the garden, from places to gather, eat, play, grow, or simply sit, to views you want to preserve, areas you’d rather soften, and the practical realities the garden needs to accommodate.
From there, we study the property itself: the house and its history, existing plantings, light, soil, views, and the character of the surrounding landscape.
Garden Design includes:
- Garden visioning session
- Site visit & evaluation
- Soil testing to understand existing conditions
- Hand-drawn garden planting plan illustrating planting areas, paths, focal points, and overall layout
- Complete plant shopping list with species and varieties selected for beauty, historical relevance, site suitability, resilience, and longevity
- Design & implementation notes to guide proper installation
A focused hour for garden questions, ideas, and practical advice.
We’ll talk through your garden, what’s working, what isn’t, and what you’re trying to accomplish. Whether we’re walking the property together or meeting virtually with photographs or a virtual tour, we’ll look at the particular conditions of your garden and work through questions about plants, layout, maintenance, problem areas, or what to do next.
Includes:
- Guidance tailored to your garden, growing conditions, and goals
- Plant suggestions selected for your home, site, and aesthetic
- Advice on layout, planting, maintenance, and seasonal care
- Practical ideas for problem areas or places that just aren’t working
- Open Q&A
- A written follow-up with recommendations, priorities, and next steps
Gardens outlast their caretakers. An Estate Garden Stewardship Plan is a practical guide that helps the next person understand what they’ve inherited and how to care for it well. It can be handed to gardeners, groundskeepers, family members, or future owners so the garden can be kept as intended through the years. Ideal for historic properties, established gardens, family homes, and gardens intended to be passed down.
Includes:
- Site visit and evaluation of the existing garden
- Record of significant plants, garden areas, structures, and features
- Written record of the garden’s overall design intent and what should be preserved
- Seasonal care and maintenance guidance
- Recommendations for pruning, dividing, replacing, and renewing plants
- Notes for gardeners, groundskeepers, family members, and future owners
Gardens change, and what they need changes with them. Ongoing Garden Guidance gives you a regular set of experienced eyes on your garden and clear direction on what to do next.
We’ll meet monthly or quarterly (virtually or in person) to look at what’s growing, what needs attention, what isn’t working, and what might need to change as the garden matures.
Includes:
- Monthly or quarterly garden consultations
- Seasonal priorities and next steps
- Guidance on pruning, dividing, moving, replacing, and adding plants
- Advice on maintenance and ongoing design decisions
- Follow-up notes and recommendations after each visit

Rooted in Maine

Old Maine Gardens is the garden design practice of Rebecka Dykstra, based at her 1849 home and gardens in South Berwick, Maine. Wife of a timber framer and historic home, barn, and church preservationist, she is drawn to Maine’s early architecture and the traditional crafts that honor it.

Rebecka specializes in historically-informed landscapes, native plants, and ecological horticulture. Along with over a decade of experience gleaned throughout her journey as a designer, private gardener, and farmer, she is pursuing Maine Master Gardener certification and advanced studies in horticulture, botany, and conservation with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and Native Plant Trust.

Her formative work includes private gardening and design in Maine, formal garden stewardship of Delphi Agrarian Arts Foundation, and work supporting the missions of Maine nonprofits including Veggies to Table and ReTreeUS.

All of this garden work is underpinned by a great love of nature. Native plants, living soils, habitat, and stewardship of the land are at the root of it all.