France | Quebec shines in the gardens of the Loire

(Chaumont-sur-Loire) On April 24, the International Garden Festival of the Chaumont-sur-Loire estate, in France, was inaugurated. Guests of honor of this 2024 edition, the Jardins de Métis unveiled Folkloretheir vision of a garden woven into Quebec traditions and looking to the future.

The birds and frogs are shouting despite the rain which turns to drizzle in milder bursts. In this melodious grayness, around thirty new gardens designed by artisans from the four corners of the world illuminate the site. They are so many changing works in an open-air museum.

The Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire is one of those exceptional places which, even in the Loire Valley where world heritage landscapes abound, are in a class of their own. A cultural, artistic and historical meeting place, the site is renewed every year through its international horticultural festival which takes place from April to November.

Since 1992, more than 900 horticultural works, selected mainly by competition, have been presented there. Les Jardins de Métis are among the few guests of honor who have been granted a “green card”.

Among the thirty new gardens presented in this program with the theme “Garden source of life”, Folklore stands out with a more conceptual creation which offers a reflection on the garden as a cultural construction. Designed by the Jardins de Métis team with landscape architects Luu Nguyen and Émilie Tanguay-Pelchat, the installation addresses tradition in a contemporary and interactive style.

Embroider a garden of the future

Folklore presents itself: graphic, intriguing, vibrant. Four kilometers of thread woven into large frames make up a colorful weft that evokes arrow, a finger weaving technique classified as Intangible Heritage of Quebec.

The Métis team has been piloting this project for almost a year. “We wanted a vision that took into account the past,” says Ève De Garie-Lamanque, artistic director of the Festival international des Jardins de Métis. In today’s digital and consumer era, we are very much focused on the future. We stopped passing on certain know-how. We feel the need to know who we are and where we come from. »

The inspiration came from the arrow belt of Elsie Reford, creator of the Jardins de Métis.

“While we were looking for ideas, Alexander [Reford] told us about Elsie’s silk belt, says Luu Nguyen. I was hesitant at first. We all have in mind the Bonhomme Carnaval and the other clichés associated with the arrow sash. But as we did our research, we realized how rich this tradition is. Basically, we know little about her. »

The meeting with the flécherande Yvette Michelin, one of the few to still master this ancestral know-how that she has been teaching for more than 60 years, was decisive. She is also the author of a book on arrowing, in which she describes the technique in landscape language: “She talks about the outward journey, the return journey, diagonals and crossroads. This is walking talk. This is where we came together,” note the landscape architects who transposed this choreography to the garden.

Everyone has their own imaginary belt

From the front, the panels transparently reveal a plant palette that evokes the boreal forest, its undergrowth and clearing plants. Their frame becomes denser when seen from the side. Depending on the observer’s movements, the structures overlap to create a multitude of arrowed belts whose colors recall the white of the snow, the blue of the sky, the red of the autumn foliage, the green of the forest and the yellow flowers of the meadows.

The result is a play of colors that changes according to the movements and moments of the season. The belt is constantly reinvented through the eyes of visitors. Everyone leaves with their own in mind. Despite its static structure, the site comes alive during visits. The public experiments with the concept and lends itself to its playful side, playing with shadows, strings and superposition effects.

“We received a lot from Chaumont, which also inspired us when creating our own festival in Métis,” notes the director of the Jardins de Métis Alexander Reford. In a gesture of reciprocity, the team extends the invitation to the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire which will have its own garden in Grand-Métis during the summer, from June 24, to 25^e International Festival of Métis Gardens.

This trip was organized in collaboration with Atout France. Part of the costs of this trip were paid by the Val de Loire Regional Tourism Committee and Air Canada, who had no right to review the content of this report.

Visit the Domaine Chaumont-sur-Loire website

Visit the Jardins de Métis website