A visit to Metis (Redford) Gardens

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Quebec Province. Wanting to take advantage of it, we decided to visit Metis Gardens (also known as Redford Gardens), a wonderful historic Botanical Garden about 45 km east of Le Bic. It was well worth the trip as the Gardens harbor an interesting diversity of plants and landscapes including ornamentals as well as native plants of the Quebec region and beyond. We enjoyed seeing a number of plants that occur in the Southern Appalachians, including  (Rhododendron catawbiense), large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), and bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) as well as plants from far flung places. An example of the latter, and perhaps my favorite plant of the day, was Blue Poppy (Pavot Blue in French), Meconopsis betonicifolia, native to alpine habitats in the Himalayas of Tibet. The photo below illustrates the unusual blue color of these flowers. I suspect that in its native habitat, bees actively visit the flowers to harvest its abundant pollen.

Blue Poppy at Redford Garden