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Wednesday, September 02, 2009

G is for Gardens

Some weeks ago, one of my sisters sent me a bunch of beautiful pictures such as this one:


I wanted to use them for this blog post, so I wrote to the person who had forwarded the pictures to her, a friend of my sister, who I had met at my niece's wedding in March 2005. Well, HE didn't take them either.

The posting was listed as Montreal Gardens. But they did not look like they were from the Montreal Botanical Gardens, which has items that look more like this:


As it turned out, others had the very same question:
Recently saw a short video (via email) of a fabulous topiary garden in Montreal with all kinds of animal/bird topiaries. It just says "Montreal gardens" but no location or any other information. I have searched Montreal attractions but no clue. Even the Botanical Garden page doesn't mention it. - thought it might be there. Anyone know where in Montreal area it is? Thank you.

Someone answered: that it was from Mosaicultures Internationales de Montreal (www.mosaiculture.ca). It's in the Vieux-Port, not the BG.
Unfortunately, it's only a temporary exhibition, not presented every year. I don't know when the next one is expected.




You can find a slideshow of a couple dozen International Mosaiculture of Montreal pictures here.
***
Meanwhile, the concept of the garden also reminded me of a couple other things. One was Adam and Eve, and the Garden of Eden.

Albrecht Dürer. The Fall of Man (Adam and Eve). Engraving, 1504


A comparison between Rembrandt's etched Adam and Eve and Dürer's engraved version of the same subject can be seen here.

In that vein, there is a great song, The Garden. It was written and performed by Bobby McFerrin on the 1990 Medicine Music album, and can be heard here. Interestingly, after I watched him perform a couple cuts from the album on NBC-TV's Today show, McFerrin declared to host Bryant Gumbel that he would never again perform his biggest hit from a couple years before, Don't Worry, Be Happy. Here's a cover version of The Garden by Vocal Line.

Finally, lyrics to the song Woodstock by Joni Mitchell:
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden


Joni's version; ironically, she never performed at Woodstock 40 years ago; she was booked to appear on late-night, ABC-TV program The Dick Cavett Show, and her manager feared that she won't make it back from Bethel, NY (where the concert was held) to New York City (where Cavett's show originated) in time; a legitimate concern, as it turned out.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's cover of Woodstock from the 1970 Album Deja Vu. They DID perform at Woodstock, BTW.

ROG

14 comments:

anthonynorth said...

Mitchell's Woodstock is just about my favourite song, although I think the Matthews' Southern Comfort cover is the best.

Uthaclena said...

Ah, le Jardin Botanique du Montréal! The family just returned from a voyage to that most civilized city and wandered the Chinese Gardens, the Japanese, the City Gardens and the Garden of the First Americans. And, of course, my 14-year old daughter's favourite, the Garden of Toxic Plants!

jabblog said...

The topiary ducks are quite wonderful! What lovely garden shots.

Reader Wil said...

Hi Roger, I also got a couple of photos the botanical garden in Montreal! They are stunning, aren't they?! Amazing how creative people can be. Thanks for the visit. My children also liked the gnomes. My grandchildren prefer Harry Potter!!

~JarieLyn~ said...

What a gorgeous garden. I love the ducks. It's fascinating. Great post.

Demeur said...

That definitely looks like a Canadian garden. I've been to a few as a kid. A nice English touch to them but don't drag your kids there they really won't appreciate them until they get older.

Carol said...

Great variety of gardens for G day...I love the topiaries...

Vicki ~ FL said...

The topiary birds in the water are wonderful...very creative.

Janie said...

Lots of great gardens, and fine G's!

Elaine Yim said...

This is certainly a creative and interesting garden with brilliant ideas.

Joanna said...

I love the amazing topiary birds and animals. I've never seen anything like that before. What a great riff on gardens you've given us. Thanks.

Bradley Hsi said...

That is nice piece of detective work that you have done. I suppose that topiaries probably will not survive the Montreal winter easily.

jay said...

Wow, that topiary garden is quite something, isn't it? I'd love to see that!

Judi said...

I want that cat topiary.
I never tire of Joni Mitchell's music, particularly Woodstock. In fact, I used it for my Feel Good Friday post to celebrate the anniversary.
http://judi-mindovermatter.blogspot.com/2009/08/feel-good-friday-back-to-garden.html

P.S. I'm okay with never hearing Don't Worry Be Happy:)