After a quarter century of commitment to preserving biodiversity, experimenting and showcasing art through its gardens, the Jardins de Métis festival is taking stock and looking to the future. It is reaffirming its initial mission and convictions: the garden is not only a vector of change, but it also has the social responsibility to be one, whether it is private or public.
Ecology of possibilitiesthe theme of this 25e edition, is part of the continuity of the reflections on climate change and heritage initiated in previous years with Adaptation (2022) and Roots (2023). It is in this context that, this year, the Festival invited designers to imagine the future by bridging history and modernity.
“We can’t continue to do the same thing for decades without looking back. Of course, we’ve made huge and rapid progress, but at the same time, we’ve lost important know-how,” says the event’s artistic director, Ève de Garie-Lamanque. “Between rushing headlong into the future or stagnating in the past, there is this possibility of progressing by learning from what has already been done.”
What’s new on the 25the International Garden Festival
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PHOTO ISABELLE MORIN, THE PRESS
Rustle of wings proposes its solution to heat islands: sails stretched over a water lily pond create a shaded area and help collect rainwater. The whole thing becomes a pretext to sit down and better reconnect with the natural environment (Jardins du Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, France).
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PHOTO ISABELLE MORIN, THE PRESS
Natural Color juxtaposes two visions of the garden – the contemplative and the utilitarian – and aims to highlight the absurdity of a dominant monoculture and a search for comfort that drain natural resources and harm the environment (Vanderveken, Architecture+Paysage, Saint-Lambert, Quebec).
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PHOTO ISABELLE MORIN, THE PRESS
In densely populated areas, a small fraction of the territory is occupied by private gardens. This observation inspired Liereman Street, which aims to be a positive agent to reduce the impact of climate change and the loss of biodiversity, while providing an oasis for city dwellers (Pioniersplanters, Belgium).
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PHOTO ISABELLE MORIN, THE PRESS
Twenty-five years after an action plan was put in place to protect certain endangered species, the situation of the Anticosti aster remains worrying in Canada. Future Drift puts the aster in the spotlight in clumps crossed by a path. Only the repeated passages of walkers will determine the spread of the plants (Julia Lines Wilson, United States).
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PHOTO MARTIN BOND, PROVIDED BY LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Composed partly of recovered ropes, Stories to weave is a reflection on what connects us to each other, and a place where the threads of the past and present come together to weave new stories (Shaza Bazzi, Maëlle Bellemin, UQAM, Montreal (project out of competition)).
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PHOTO JÉRÔME LAPIERRE, PROVIDED BY THE JARDINS DE MÉTIS
For his 25the anniversary, the Festival invited the architect Jérôme Lapierre to imagine a place of relaxation at the entrance to its site. Pergola revisits the traditional garden building (permanent installation out of competition).
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The green voice
Since 2000, the International Garden Festival has allowed artists, architects and horticulturists to express their voices in its open-air museum.
Considered today as the most important festival of contemporary gardens in North America, the event has presented to date more than 180 installations and some 70 designers from different disciplines in Grand-Métis and abroad.
Moreover, this year the Festival presented two extra-mural installations: Repairia/Ripariaat the old sandpit of Grand-Métis, and FolkFlora at the International Garden Festival at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire in France. The project Rustle of wingsproduced by artisans from Chaumont-sur-Loire, is exhibited as part of the Métis Festival and is an echo of this France-Quebec exchange.
Read our article on the Reford Gardens in the Loire
PHOTO LOUISE TANGUAY, PROVIDED BY THE JARDINS DE MÉTIS
L’Royal Alley, one of the site’s heritage gardens
Elsie’s Dream
You can’t visit the festival without taking the opportunity to stroll through the historic Métis Gardens, which occupy most of the site. The entrance ticket gives you access to both sectors. This is where, between 1926 and 1958, Elsie Reford transformed a forest into an opulent garden, which brings together exotic species that one would never have thought would thrive in such a previously arid environment. It required the intervention of a wealthy lady of the manor and stubborn gardener.
His ambitious project resulted in one of the most important plant collections of the time, which has now become a national historic site of Canada.
Around 3000 species and varieties of plants grow there, including a collection of blue poppies considered a rarity in these conditions.
A visit to Villa Estevan, the main property of Elsie’s resort estate, provides a glimpse into bourgeois life at the time. Stopping for a gourmet dinner or opting instead for a bite to eat at the Buvette des Jardins or Le Bufton café-bistro (all three located on the site), one can easily spend a day in the enchanting setting of the Reford Gardens.
Visit the website of the International Garden Festival of the Jardins de Métis