A visit to Jardins de Métis

We've been to Métis Gardens/Redford Gardens a couple of times before and really enjoyed it, but this was our first visit this year.

It was a perfect day, clear and sunny, so a good day for an outing.  It's a garden full of special plants in an outstanding historic setting; it's a garden simply to enjoy, rather than focus on photos for today's visit, I thought.

We joined as members, planning to go back a number of times this summer.  In any case, we like to support gardens!  It's a lovely drive ~ 40 minutes from our house.

Several interesting highlights:

Meconopsis betonicifolia

First, it's the start of the flowering season for blue poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia), a Himalayan species challenging to grow, but one that Elsie Redford, the garden's founder, first grew from seed in 1930's; their progeny are what we enjoyed seeing today.

And interestingly, given my newfound appreciation of peonies, there were peonies in many of the garden areas, including the collection near the historic house.

They're just starting to flower, and these were being avidly visited by pollen-collecting honeybees, as well as some sort of small flower fly.

peony with pollen collectors

 And the lupines in the meadow were in flower, so we timed our first visit perfectly.  But we'll be back, too, to see what else unfolds.  The rhododendrons (both deciduous and evergreen) - unusual for a garden this far north, apparently - were striking in flower on this visit, too, but I didn't take photos of them, as they're not so unusual for me!

lupines (with enhanced blue sky!)