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International Flora Montreal 2006 Press
Trip
Garden Writers Region VII Meeting
June 14-16th, 2006
Thursday morning we were up bright and early
for our official Region VII breakfast meeting where Larry had all kinds of
goodies waiting for us, including a great breakfast! Thank you to all the
suppliers who gave us some great plants, fertilizers, tools, etc). By 8:30
we were ready for our guided tour with Carole Lemaire (who was outstanding!)
around the City of Montreal and to some of its hidden charms. I am sure you
all know that next to Paris, Montreal has the largest French speaking
population, but let me assure you there are a lot of people who speak
English here so it is a very user friendly city. The first stop was to
Saint-Joseph’s Oratory, located on the top of Mount Royal, with its Dome, a
shining beacon for all to see.
http://www.saint-joseph.org/ The flower bed at the bottom of the hill
had the words “Seeds of Hope” planted. Carole said that they have 17
gardeners looking after the gardens…all the stations of the cross have
garden surrounding them. Mount Royal is one of 1,011 parks that are in
Montreal. This park is 495 acres and as you can see from the long shot of
the Olympic Stadium, there is indeed a lot of green in Montreal.. Carole
also went on to say that there is underground, a virtual city, with over
2,000 shops. You could never get tired of shopping in Montreal.
We next visited the Religieuses Hospitalières de St-Joseph. Here we were met
and introduced to a bit of the history before being allowed to walk around
the private gardens. This was such a peaceful and serene place to be…and
such history!
http://www.rhsj.org/en/historique/index.html
Then a quick drive around the Atwater Market
because as usual, we were running behind. I have just one picture as we were
on the coach. You should have heard us moaning the fact that we didn’t have
time to stop. Many had been there before and it really is an incredible
place to visit. You cannot help but come out laden with goodies to take
home…and the plant material is sooo good!
Our next visit was to Maison Saint-Gabriel, “one of the few rare farms in
Canada that has belonged to the same group for almost 300 years. Today, it
brings its past to life through its collection and its activities
interpreting rural life in the 17th century. The vegetable garden and the
herb garden are living and complementary elements.”
http://www.maisonsaint-gabriel.qc.ca/en/h/index.html Here you will see a
roof of tin. Carole told us about these roofs unique to this area. They came
about as a result of the homes having thatched roofs and catching on fire.
The tin came from old cookie or tea tins being flattened and used as
roofing.
This morning sponsored by Guidatour, thank you for making your city come
alive to us Carole!
http://www.guidatour.qc.ca/intro/intro.html
After this visit we met with Gilles Bengle
from Tourisme Montreal for lunch at the Boris Bistro – oh la la what a
lunch…this bistro is located right in the heart of Montreal’s historic
quarter and just down the street from Flora…wonderful food and great
service! After this is was hard to tear ourselves away – sitting in the
afternoon sun under an umbrella sipping coffee was just the most restful
place to be…but we must get to Flora, for that is what we came to see!
http://www.borisbistro.com/ Thank
you again Gilles and Tourisme Montreal for this wonderful and relaxing time
together.
As we all were walking into the Flora site, Veronica, Liz and I were lagging
a bit behind when a fellow came up to ask if we were with a tour or on our
own. He wanted to know because he was with the Montreal Gazette and his
photographer needed someone to be in the garden when she took a picture.
Veronica stepped right up into the position you see in my photo of her. This
is why my pictures are a bit out of sync, because we did this and then I
walked to the entrance and started all over again starting with the banners
of Flora. The photo did appear in the paper the next morning, just about the
same as the first one I took here.
We were here on press day, so you will not see very many people around the
site other than press and those working on the last finishing touches for
the displays. I really enjoyed Flora and think that in a very short time all
the plants will be filled in nicely giving it a really finished look and
feel. For right now though, I was impressed at what is here and know they
will attract many visitors until it closes October 9th. It’s on the site of
the old Mosaicultures show (just renamed Jardins des Ecluses) and I just
have to say it’s a perfect spot for it. The theme this year is "The Garden
Passion" and it includes 45 designers from Canada and abroad presenting the
latest trends in gardening with just about 50 gardens for you to visit. They
plan on running this event for five years and have different themes each
year. I found the Garden Lounges a very thoughtful idea for those needing a
rest during their day visit. There are five of them located throughout the
site and during the evenings they can be rented out for private functions.
The other exciting benefit is that they have put together a promotion to
showcase some of the most beautiful gardens in eastern Canada called the Via
Rail Garden Route stretching from Windsor to Halifax. There is a contest
that you can enter at each of the gardens on the route, so see their site
for further information on it. Thank you Julie Mailhot for sharing Flora
with us!
http://www.floramontreal.ca/Flora_garden.html
You will see a display that is nothing more
than concrete…I had to chuckle because this was really playing it close to
the opening day! Hope they got it completed in time. After our visit we want
back to the hotel and I had a much needed nap before dinner. After a
wonderful Chinese dinner some of us headed to the Casino, while others
walked a short distance to see La Joute ("The Joust") by Jean-Paul Riopelle.
It is rather a dark sculpture/fountain, but at night with fire and mist on
it, it becomes quite magical. It’s in a pretty little square with lots of
trees and pathways.
http://www.qimtl.qc.ca/EVENTS_jpriopelle.php
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