Entrance to Reford Gardens
RailGuy and I are back from our mini-tour of the Gaspé region. Our 5 day trip was planned around a visit to Reford Gardens, followed by points east, and restricted by the animal-sitting services available. The latter were kindly provided by Birdgirl, who posted about Willow House wildflowers and shinleaf during her stay. Many thanks, Birdgirl!
Ticket booth and gift shops
Reford Gardens are located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River just east of the city of Rimouski. We stayed in Rimouski the night before our garden visit, and the forecast for the next day called for overcast skies with a 60% chance of showers and possible thunderstorms. Not the best weather for a garden stroll. However, the day dawned bright and sunny, with a pleasant breeze, and the weather was absolutely perfect all day.
Living walls, with waterfall, grasses and impatiens.
Just inside the entrance is a pretty nook formed of living walls planted with impatiens and grasses, enlivened by a waterfall. From there, visitors head down a path that leads through a woodland to one of a series of gardens.
Sometimes when you are looking forward to visiting an attraction, the event can fall short of the expectations you have built up while anticiping your arrival. Reford Gardens were quite the opposite for me, exceeding my expectations. The gardens were truly a joy to experience.
I took many photographs over the course of the day. I’ll share with you here some photos from the stream garden, which embrasses the banks of Page’s Brook. A series of bridges link a graceful, meandering path that leads back and forth through the garden.
It seemed everywhere you looked there was something special to catch the eye.
Lady Slipper Orchids with hostas and pulmonaria
RailGuy and astilboides tabularis
White turk's cap lilies
Petasites japonicus var. giganteus (Butterbur)
Iris "Hoop the Loop"
The stars of the garden were the Himilayan Blue Poppies (Meconopsis betonicifolia), for which Reford Gardens is reknown.
The azaleas were also in bloom.
My favorites were these peachy-orange flowers.
In closing, I’ll leave you with this final photograph showing the azaleas, blue poppies and red primroses. Stunning. I’ll save the Long Walk and the meadow garden for another post.
Willow House Chronicles 
I’m blowed away by the Astilboides tabularis, which I’ve never seen before. It appears to tolerate my growing zone. Have you ever tried to grow it before?
I never heard of Reford Gardens. It certainly sounds and looks like a place to visit. Thank you for the lovely tour of the Stream Garden. I can’t wait to see the rest of your pictures.
I bought seeds for those blue Himalayan poppies this year but never got them planted – life too much up in the air. I’ve stuck ’em back in the fridge, and hope that maybe next year I can get them planted.
Shanda, isn’t it great? I have a smaller one here and it does quite well, though hasn’t gotten that large. Watch for a follow-up post tomorrow.
Louise, it’s a lovely spot to visit if you ever have the opportunity. Glad to be able to share some photos!
Ellen, they had seed on sale in the gift shop, but I thought it was a bit late in the season and didn’t purchase any. They would be fun to try though. Maybe next year.
It’s tough to worr about a garden when life is unsettled. Hope things come together for you.
Lovely photos. What a wonderful shade garden — very inspiring!
Thank you, LB. How did E.g.’s parents enjoy their visit? I thought of them when we were there.
They enjoyed the visit, Barefootheart. They remarked on the footbridges, and E.g.’s mum particularly liked the sunken garden.
[…] visiting Reford Gardens, we took the road east as it follows the south shore of the St. Lawrence river. Our destination was […]
[…] it would be. I was inspired to try a blue poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia) after seeing the famous Reford Gardens (jardins de metis) display. I started out with just one plant to see if it would be hardy […]