Win tickets to see The Gardener documentary

Did you know? Canada is home to one of North America’s most spectacular private gardens. We’ve written twice about Les Quatre Vents, near La Malbaie, Quebec (here and here) and at last I have an excuse to write about it again. Because it, and its creator Francis Cabot, is now the subject of a feature documentary, The Gardener, playing May 18 […]

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Order in the court(yard)

I love the asymmetrical. Something in the balance of off-balance appeals to me deeply. Yet, the perfect order of a four-square courtyard can also be satisfying, don’t you think? This garden, with its European-style courtyard, has been calling to me for more than two years. We saw it back in September 2014 on a story tour with the […]

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Formal gardens don’t have to be stuffy

The formal herb garden at Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens (with Savvy Gardening gals Amy and Tara) The act of garden making is an attempt to impose a human’s sense of order on the natural world. Even a native garden or, the latest trend, the messy, bedhead garden (a trend that I’ve been following for years), actively assembles […]

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Les Quatre Vents, Le Pigeonnier

Le Pigeonnier and its garden is one of 24 garden spaces at Les Quatre Vents If you love gardens and live in Canada, be proud that one of North America’s finest gardens is right here. Well, right here and a little over to our right – near La Malbaie, Québec. It’s Les Quatre Vents. Few […]

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Filoli and the framing device

Fight for a just cause; love your fellow man; live a good life = FiLoLi I don’t own a goldmine, do you? That makes us unlike the Bourn family, who built the Filoli estate early in the last century. It’s also pretty certain we’re not Blake or Krystle Carrington (Filoli acted as their mansion on […]

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