The garden as seen from the entrance off rue Notre Dame. The chateau (aka museum) is to the left of this photo.
Our guide, and part of the garden with the museum showing at the top.
What an attentive group you were! Note the presence of umbrellas. The rain was more drizzle; umbrella use was optional as far as I was concerned at this time.
The garden as seen from the orchard end - looking back to the entrance ramp, and also showing the museum (on the right).
The vegetable garden.
Looking out the back gate
Twenty First Century garden
Looking out the back gate to the quite new apartment building, and noting that it has a central courtyard, complete with garden! It's nice to see some traditions being continued.
Back out on rue Notre Dame we had an unobstructed view of the floral version of Montreal's coat of arms. The four emblems are (clockwise, from top left): the fleur de lys representing the French settlers; the Lancastrian rose for the English contingent; the thistle representing the Scottish contingent; and finally the shamrock for the Irish contributions.
The property has been operated for three centuries by the Sisters of Congregation de Notre-Dame, founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys who arrived in Ville Marie (as Montreal was known at the time) in 1653. This property is one of the first three missions which the congregation founded to educate the Amerindians and children of settlers.
We were expecting to tour the gardens, but the rain was heavy enough that the ground became soggy, so instead we toured the inside of the house. This was quite interesting, perhaps more so than the gardens would have been. No photographs are allowed inside, so you'll need to follow up on the web site above.
Gardens