(HOST) Montreal has long offered New Englanders a convenient escape from the routines of ordinary life – and commentator Charlie Nardozzi says that goes for gardens too.
(NARDOZZI) I love going to Montreal. It’s close geographically yet far away and distinct culturally. It offers unique views on food, language, arts, architecture and gardens. Yes, Montreal is a hot bed of gardening, and it’s not just the botanic garden that’s worth seeing. If you’re looking for some new garden design ideas, the Montreal Garden Festival, also known as International Flora, is a good place to find them.
This outdoor festival was started last year and is a celebration of the potential of what gardens can be. Local and international designers have created forty-five distinct garden rooms. The gardens are grouped by themes, such as City Gardens, Tilted Gardens (for growing in slopes and banks), Balcony Gardens, Avant-Garde Gardens and Nature Gardens. Each designer was given 500 to 1000 square feet to manifest his or her unique concept. And unique is what you see. Using unusual materials, plants, structures and artwork, the gardens push the envelope of what is art and what is gardening, leaving you feeling expanded and awed.
Let me take you on a little tour.
The I Spy garden not only features attractive vegetables and flowers growing in raised beds set against a terra cotta colored wall, but also has human sized manikins lounging and working the garden, decked out in the latest fashions. You feel a bit like a peeping Tom.
H2O features a garden with water below, on the sides and above you. Plants are propped in the walls, and the sound and smell of cascading water is entrancing. Trees are floating on islands in the man-made lake located near the garden.
The Bamboo Cathedral features 30-foot tall, sail-like walls made of bamboo and jute, with tropical plants scattered among the curved walkways.
Between Earth and Sky garden has few plants. It’s mostly a study in mulch, color and light. Colored crushed glass covers the floor as mulch. Eight-foot tall poles holding transparent colored disks cast shadows on the mulch like multi-colored suns. A small water garden decorates one corner, while a single loosestrife plant adorns another. The feeling is otherworldly.
More conventional gardens, such as the edible landscape garden, feature attractive vegetables and flowers planted together in beds and containers. They remind me that the distinction between beauty and edibility is simply man-made.
Furniture is key to the festival. There are plenty of locations for sitting and viewing the gardens from various benches, chairs, and beds made from materials ranging from plastic to wicker. There’s even a garden featuring stone furniture, where a couch, chairs and tables are crafted from granite. The designers carved holes in the arm rests and planted thyme in them. So as I sat there to rest a bit after a busy day, I rubbed my arms on this aromatic herb and dreamed of the gardens I could create based on the inspirations from our friends to the North.
Charlie Nardozzi (Nar-DOH-zee) is an all-around gardening expert with a special fondness for tomatoes and roses.