REFORD GARDENS | TIGER LILY RED | LYS TIGRE ROUGE | LES JARDINS DE METIS | GASPESIE | QUEBEC

7615-2
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS

Visit : www.refordgardens.com/

From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.

Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)

Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford

Visit : www.refordgardens.com

LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.

Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada

© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.

Taken in: Canada / Quebec / Grand-Métis (show map)

Taken on: August 14, 2023

Tags:

REFORD

GARDENS

| more »

TIGER

LILY

RED

LYS

TIGRE

ROUGE

LES

JARDINS

METIS

GASPESIE

QUEBEC

CANADA

CANON

7DMARKII

REBEL

T2i

CANONREBELT2i

EOS

CANON7D

MARKII

REBELT2i

CANONREBEL

CANONT2i

EOST2i

EOS7D

EOS7DMARKII

MARK

MARK2

EOS7DMARK2

CANON7DMARKII

CANONEOSREBELT2i

CANONEOS7D

CANONEOS

ph:camera=canon « less

Sets appears in: • REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS • ELSIE REFORD REFORD GARDENS

Groups appears in: • Colors of the World • I Love My Canon more » • PHOTOGRAPHERS OF CANADA • Flickritis: over 87,000 waiting for a vaccine. • Macro Photography • Flickr Nature • FlickrToday (only 1 pic per day) • Flower Close-Ups • Just me and my camera ! • 10 Million Photos • Shield Of Excellence • Lonely Planet Publications: Photobook • Nature and Photography • One Of A Kind • Flickr Elite Group • Macro Photography Unlimited • Red (and reddish) • *THE PERFECT PHOTOGRAPHER (P1/A2) • " Damn Cool Photographers in the WORLD " .♥.♥.♥ • Better Than Good • " MASTER CLASS PHOTOGRAPHY " • Dragon Gold Award " The Best Of Flickr " • Red Green • "Picturesque" (Post 7 - Award 3) • "Los mejores momentos de tu día" • DIAMOND HEART (Post 1-Comment 3) • Flowers Planet Photography • "FLICKR POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHER" POST1/AWARD3 QUALITY IMAGES ONLY • "Double Dragon Awards" Post 1 Comment 3 SWEEPER!! • Colour Mania • !!Perfect Composition!! • National Geographic | World Wide • FlickrCentral With No Posting Limit • as beautiful as you want • ***Flickr Global • RED IS WONDERFUL ! • Red is Vibrant and Passionate *ONLY NATURE* • flowers of the world (Post 1, Comment 1) • Mordus de photos • Flower Beauty ! • Everything Canon EOS!!! • No sin mi cámara // Not without my camera • "Only Good Photographs - PLEASE P1A2" • Color my world! • Fine Gold • RED photos only • La Crème de La Crème • Flower Flower Flower • * Mad about flowers • Galería Siabala • Macro & Close up Photography • Perfect Beauty II • World of Yellow & Red • flickr every day! • **AMAZING shot** (Quality image only!) • Nature and all that is beautiful • Colours of Flickr • Beautiful Flowers - Schöne Blumen • Gardens, Flowers and Parks Nirvana - No 30/60 Limit • Flickr Heroes • Group for all users of FLICKR - No 30/60 Groups Limit • Flores, flores, flores y más flores • ! Creative Composition ! • Details Of Nature - no birds or greater animals - no landscapes • Paint a Picture • Follow me my friends (public) « less

Stats: 1,778 views / 30 comments