When is it? Jardins de Metis is held annually at Reford Gardens from approximately the 3rd week of June to the first week of October. 2009 dates are not  currently posted.

Ticketing? Tickets in the past have been about 16 Canadian Dollars which also includes a visit to Redford gardens.

Indoors/Outdoors,  Facility? Outdoors. The International Garden Festival takes place on a site expressly created for the event by the architects Atelier in situ (Annie Lebel and Stéphane Pratte) and the landscape architects Vlan Paysages (Julie Saint-Arnault and Micheline Clouard). The site is laid out on two axes. The north-south axis comprises a geometric grid of spaces, each identical in size. The grid creates a framework of open and landscaped spaces, with viewing points on all sides.

Size? More than 500,000 visitors have made the Gardens and the Festival their destination since its first edition.

Organizer? Les Amis des Jardins de Métis,   http://www.jardinsmetis.com/english/festival/index.htm.. The International Garden Festival is administered by La Fondation des Jardins de Métis, a not-for-profit corporation with charitable status.

History? In June 2000, Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens opened the first edition of the International Garden Festival, the culmination of several years of intense effort to transform an unused part of the Gardens’ property into a venue for the annual display of temporary gardens conceived by designers from Canada and abroad.

Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens have been open to the public since 1962. In 1995, Les Amis des Jardins de Métis assumed responsibility for developing the Gardens. The Festival evolved as one of the organization’s three objectives: the restoration of the historic gardens (tradition), the exhibition of temporary gardens by leading contemporary designers (innovation), and the preservation of the shoreline along the St. Lawrence and Mitis rivers (conservation).

Since 2000, over 50 gardens created by approximately 100 designers living in eight countries have been presented, in addition to temporary installations in gardens, parks, and flower shows in Montréal, Amqui, New Richmond, Toronto, England, France, and Italy.  The Festival has a reputation as a unique venue for the display of work by a new generation of landscape architects, architects, and visual artists.

The aim is to invigorate the practice of garden design, and challenge both the profession and the public by introducing new landscapes, new materials, and new visions of the garden.

The gardens of the International Garden Festival are not confined to the site of Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens. The Festival also initiates collaborative projects with partners throughout Québec and around the world.  The extra-mural projects have provided an international platform for both the Festival and its designers as well as establishing international partners.

Responses to the show…My own opinion of the show – if I have been there…reviews, blog comments…whatever I can find from people who have actually attended or participated:   I haven’t been to this one either.  But here are a few links to bloggers who have.  Here.  And here.

Here are few pictures from past Metis shows.

1. Jardins de Métis, 2. I saw it through the grapevine, 3. path, 4. Jardin de Métis – 4/30, 5. Jardin de Métis – 3/30, 6. aux jardins de Métis, 7. Green Tubes, 8. Cherry Pits, 9. Sitting Under the Tree, 10. Jardins de Métis., 11. Jardin de Metis, 12. Le jardin des Hespérides, 13. Sound Field, 14. Reflets Colorés, 15. Hey mon ami, t’aimes manger des patates !, 16. fences