Kim Case

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Specializing in container gardening, Fiachre of Fore Street in Portland, Maine, offers whimsical items that are inspiration for any-size garden.

For a city that’s 222 years old, Portland feels surprisingly young and even, dare I say it, hip. The growing population has figured out that the breadth of cultural activities, great restaurants, and the proximity to wild space all combine for a pretty tempting city to live in. But let’s stick to the important things—shopping. When I went browsing for great places to buy home and garden goods in Portland, the challenge was in what NOT to talk about. But if you are looking for something green and fresh, any time of year, head to Fiachre on Fore Street. I first stumbled upon this little garden shop last winter when walking in from gray snow. The inviting greenhouse-like freshness combined with an earthy smell from giant urns of bulbs and lush green plants rushed me past GO and directly into spring.

Fiachre is no secret to horticulturally inclined Portlanders who’ve been taking advantage of its soothing wares for about five years now. Not your typical garden shop, Fiachre has something unusual to entice everywhere you turn: terracotta pots in unusual shapes invite closer inspection from their loosely stacked spots on the floor next to whimsical stone figures, leafy houseplants in fantastic urns wave at you from the shelves, and a comfortable chair sits waiting for a browser at one of the side tables stacked with the latest literary garden tomes.

The most popular items are oversized weather-resistant planters, terracotta urns from all over the world, and simple ones glazed by local artists. Displays change with the seasons and by whim and include such favorites as spring branches, holiday evergreens, and blooming bulbs, all creating the surprise of living things thriving inside in cooler months.

Owner Melissa Howe drew her early inspiration for the shop from travels to France and Great Britain where she found joy in the utilitarian aspects of gardens. “We’ve become so desensitized to plants,” says Howe. “I just have to laugh when people come in, manhandle, smell the plants, then ask me if they are real.”

They’re real all right, as is the feel of this inviting shop.