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A perfect package
Our "package" experience was deeply satisfying. We absolutely loved the people,the food,the interiors,and the setting at l'Auberge du Grand Fleuve. And then the many elements of the Gardens experience.
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A Must See !
If you pass in Gaspesie, don't miss the Gardens. It's a real beauty.
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Home | Welcome to our new Web Site

Welcome to the Web Site of Reford Gardens and the International Garden Festival. Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens invite you to explore the gardens and its many attractions. Our new web site has been created to provide you with all the information you need. Whether you are just looking for dates and rates, seeking to learn more about this national historic site or trying to replicate Elsie Reford’s success with the magical and mysterious blue poppy, or wishing to view the more than 100 gardens presented by the International Garden Festival, this web site has a great deal of information and some stunning images. We have done our best to provide you with a flavor of this special place. We hope that you will explore this site – or better yet – make the visit to Grand-Métis to visit the Gardens for yourself.

The Latest Glog | Winter at the Gardens !
The Glog (Garden Log) is written by Alexander Reford, Director of Les Jardins de Métis and great-grandson of Elsie Reford, founder of the gardens.



Winter is a time that most gardeners use to dream about their gardens in the company of piles of seed catalogues and a few beautiful garden magazines. We are no different, except that we perhaps receive more seed catalogues and magazines than most.

But at Les Jardins de Métis, the winter is also a period where our small team work to prepare for the coming season. We use the months of January and February to finalize our program of events and activities, solicit memberships and donations from our members, canvass foundations and partners for their support and prepare to welcome back our workers in May.

I have recently returned from Boston where I gave talks on the gardens at the French Cultural Centre and to a combined assembly of the Beacon Hill andCambridgegarden clubs. The story of Elsie Reford’s transformation of her fishing camp into a vast private paradise and the colourful creations of the International Garden Festival were greeted with enthusiasm by some of Boston’s best gardeners.

In addition to the horticultural pornography of flowers in full bloom in June, July and August, I wooed them with some spectacular photographs of the gardens in winter, like those seen here. Few get to see the gardens at this time of the year, and for this reason I have invited photographer Robert Baronet to capture their beauty out of season. He has also taken some exceptional shots of the festival gardens for the designers and several publications.  

The work to prepare the 11th edition of the International Garden Festival has been well underway since the selection of the designers in December. Our team of Emmanuelle Vieira and François Leblanc are in almost daily contact with the new designers of the International Garden Festival (who hail from Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Berlin and Sydney, Australia) to help them hone their designs, identify suppliers and work towards the beginning of the construction of their gardens in May.

In the next blog, watch for news about the première of the documentary Il était deux fois un jardin in Montréal in March, our annual fund-raising dinner at Toqué! restaurant and our booth at Canada Blooms in Toronto (March 17 to 21). Contact us if you want to join us at one or more of these special events.

In the meantime, enjoy your winter repose.

Alexander Reford


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