By Anne Marie Van Nest

Anyone traveling to eastern Canada during the summer must stop at Reford Gardens in Quebec. This garden has more than 1,000 varieties of plants in a carefully integrated naturalistic setting that covers more than 40 acres. The garden was started in 1926 by Elsie Reford and is one of Canada's most historic gardens. For more than 30 years, Elsie designed and developed the garden, which was her life's passion. Today, Alexander Reford continues the family tradition as the director of Reford Gardens.

     Situated on the banks of the M'tis and St. Lawrence Rivers about 150 km east of Riviére du Loup, the garden attracts almost 100,000 visitors each year, making it one of the most popular tourist sites in Quebec. Reford Gardens is the result of Elsie Reford's passion for gardening. She was heiress to Estevan Lodge, a fishing camp built by her uncle, Lord Mount Stephen, founder of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Elsie Reford used the Lodge for her summer home for almost 50 years. It was in 1926 that Elsie had appendicitis, which caused doctors to tell her that she could not continue fishing and she had to take up a less strenuous pastime. They suggested gardening, not fully realizing the hardships of gardening on the shoreline of the St. Lawrence River.

     So at age 54, Elsie started her journey to become a self-taught gardener, and dedicated her summers from this point until 1959 to building her gardens. This continued until they had grown to over 40 acres. Elsie was a well educated and intelligent woman who discovered a new found passion for gardening (in kind of a Vita Sackville-West way). Today, the garden is home to more than 3,000 species and includes fields of the elusive Himalayan Blue Poppy. The gardens are situated north of the 49th parallel, where there are lots of plants that should not grow, but the proximity to the river, deep snow cover, and conifer protection allows "out of zone" plants here like Mecanopsis and Azalea to survive and thrive.

     One of the most spectacular sights in mid-July is a quarter-acre sea of blue flowers under a stand of pines. The blue blooms are none other than Mecanopsis, the Himalayan Blue Poppy. The gardens contain 8,000 of these plants, making it the world's largest collection. Seed selected from these plants has produced some interesting variations. Frilled edges, deeper blues, mauve-blues, and larger flowers make the propagation process very enjoyable. Seeds are sown in January and planted out in the summer. The plants must have semi-shade and be away from the wind. Alexander Reford wants to help others grow this amazing plant. He suggests that it is best to divide the blue poppy and not grow it from seed. Seed is not readily viable and often has disappointing results. The soil should be rich and peat moss based. He notes that soil should be kept moist, but also adds that it is important for plants to have dry feet. Alexander has been so successful that some of his plants act like perennials. Elsie, Alexander's great grandmother had eight varieties of Mecanopsis.

     The garden today has four varieties, but there's a desire to increase this number. The original ones came from the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh in 1930. Visit the garden in mid-July to see the spectacular display of Mecanopsis in bloom.

     Reford Gardens is operated by a registered charitable organization called Les Amis des Jardins de M'tis. It was this organization that acquired the gardens from the Government of Quebec in 1995. After Elsie passed away, her relatives did not have the same passion for the garden as she did, so they sold it to the government. The current director of the gardens is Alexander Reford (great-grandson of Elsie Reford). Alexander is a historian by training and was Dean of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto before coming to Reford Garden in 1995. Alexander has come to share Elsie's love of the garden and is a fitting person to continue her dream.

Reford Gardens is located at 200, Route 132 in Grand-M'tis (Quebec) G0J 1Z0, telephone (418) 775-2221 Their website is www.refordgardens.com or e-mail reford@refordgardens.com. The gardens are open every day from the beginning of June until mid-October.

Writer Anne Marie Van Nest is an instructor at the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture and Botanical Gardens. She currently resides in Thorold, ON.


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