A look at the White Board on
the Wagon Master’s rig showed that today was to be an adventure at Reford
Garden’s. Elsie Reford began her garden
in 1926 she was 54. Elsie had a passion
for flowers of all varieties, collecting thousands. She gardened until 1958. Today, the vast garden is maintained by Les
Amis des Jardins de Metis.
After passing thru the
entryway, you come upon a garden wall re-planted each year with varieties of
annual plants.
The first thing you see upon
entering the garden is a stone sculpture called Mirages (Delta de Metis) by Bill Vazan. Karen Gantt stands in front of the sculpture
where the larger stones are engraved with plant-like representations.
One of many wooden bridges
overlooking a running stream and beautiful plants and flowers.
A beautiful yellow
peony
(L to R) David Storrs, Bettie
Runnalls, Gretta Storrs, Joe and Janet Fishman, and Eric Runnalls. They seem to be looking for the Inukshuk to
point the way.
An unusal colored Primrose
(Primula Vialii)
A variety of ferns.
Just follow the yellow brick road….
Roses and pink Astilbie
The Long Walk is one of Elsie
Reford’s most original creations and is 300 feet long. Slightly sloping beds flank the central
pathway. The flagstones were made to
resemble stone but are made of cement, using shell-filled sand from the
beach. 400 varieties of plants bloom
from early spring to the end of summer.
An old (what year?)
International pickup truck, with mounded hedges and silver colored sculptures
in the distance.
Bonsai-shaped pine and fern
planted on a concrete structure that was placed on a cut-down tree stump.
A view of one corner of the
vegetable and flower garden. Note the
bright blue of the plant not labeled but believed to be delphinium.
View of the sea beyond the
Estevan Lodge.
Walkway of petunias on path
to the International Garden Festival.
Orange Secret… one of 25
displays in the 15th International Garden Festival. More that 750 designers from practices and
countries around the world have built and planted a total of 150 projects in
the 15 years the festival has run.
A “flock” of pink flamingos in the Bird
Garden
Bird house garden in International
Garden Festival
“Le Grand Rassemblement” is a work of art created by Marcel
Gagnon. There are 100 life-size “people”
that come out of the sea. The sculptures
are made from reinforced concrete, some
weighing more than 685 kg. These people
of the sea change continuously unders the visitor’s eyes. At low tide, guests can walk up to the feet
of the last sculpture in the St.Lawrence river but by high tide many are
underwater.
Reid Gantt with one of the
people of the sea.
WagonMaster Spence giving the
travel briefing for next days travel day to Cap-Aux-Os, QC
(L to R) Gretta & David
Storrs, Joe & Janet Fishman, deciding what to eat at La Bonne Table.
Submitted by:
#14 Karen & Reid Gantt
