Les Jardins de Métis is one of Canada's most historic landscapes. This Web site lets you discover the history of a place and the people who shaped it during the past one hundred years. Situated at the confluence of the Metis and the St. Lawrence rivers, Les Jardins de Métis sit high above the water's edge. Elsie Reford created these gardens at Estevan, the property she had been given by her uncle, George Stephen. She fished for salmon on the Metis river, making the trip from Montreal every summer. In the 1920's she began transforming her property into a garden. Gardening became the passion that ruled her life. Over more than thirty years she designed and developed a garden that is renowned for its imagination, its unique botanical collection and the careful integration of plants in a naturalistic setting. Les Jardins de Métis are also the result of a unique collaboration. Elsie Reford was the gardener and her husband, Robert Wilson Reford, the photographer. He took photographs of the gardens over a period of almost fifty years. In the darkrooms he built for himself in Estevan Lodge and his Montreal home, he developed pictures of the landscape, the flowers, and the family and friends who visited Grand Metis. No other garden in North America is blessed with such a complete pictorial record. This Web site displays 100 photographs from our archives. Accompanying many of the photographs are the words Elsie Reford wrote to describe the gardens. By travelling through this site you can visit several countries, meet the guides and gardeners, enjoy panoramic views, walk the country lanes and wander the pathways of the garden - with Elsie Reford as your guide. But these images are no substitute for the real thing. Having visited this historic landscape, we invite you to come to Grand Metis and visit the gardens for yourself. Alexander Reford Director, Les Jardins de Métis