Accepting the Challenge  Whether he?s coaxing a finicky plant to
bloom or climbing yet another Maine mountain, a Belfast man
keeps ...  They say that you can take the measure of a man - or
a woman, for that matter - by his garden. We all know the
frenetic character whose garden is crammed with statuary,
trellises, and topiary. Or the laid-back person whose beds
harbor only a swath of juniper and a row of hostas. Some gardens
scream, "Look at me," just as some people do. The shy or
solitary may choose to create a garden unseen by anyone save
intimates.  Retired school superintendent Arthur Pierce's garden
in the historic district of Belfast speaks volumes about its
creator. A life-long educator with an unquenchable enthusiasm
for new projects, he has over the last decade transformed a
featureless lawn on a postage-stamp-sized lot into a
surprisingly varied and harmonious garden. Just as the best
teachers never stop being students of the world around them,
Pierce has been absorbing knowledge and materials from