Among the day-lilies. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

The Turk's Cap lilies (Lilium Martagon) are the first lilies to bloom at Grand-Metis, with their white and burgundy flowers. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

"A lily garden on the lower St. Lawrence" was how Elsie Reford described her garden. Shown here are some of her favourite flowers, the Lilium regale. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

Hundreds of alpine plants were to be found in Elsie Reford's gardens. These are double tulips whose small delicate flowers bloom in the early summer. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

The Long Walk is an English border laden with bloom from the beginning to the end of the summer. Pictured here are Phlox paniculata. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

The Blue Poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia) is one of the marvels of the plant world and one of the features of Elsie Reford's gardens. Its delicate pure blue flowers break into bloom in mid-June. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

Flowers were cut from the picking garden for Estevan Lodge every day. Here bouquets of delphinium, lilies and daisies decorate the table in Elsie Reford's sitting room. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

Digitalis in bloom surrounded by the native spruce forest. Elsie Reford preserved the native trees and carved out flower beds around their roots. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

Elsie Reford's collection of lilies included more than fifty species and varieties imported from all corners of the world.

Elsie Reford's basket surrounded by lilies in bloom below the steps leading to the High Bank. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

In June, the Long Walk breaks into bloom, several hundred peonies producing thousands of large pink blossoms (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

The Iris Garden was one of many small gardens that Elsie Reford created for specific species of plants. (Photo: H.H. Black, 1935)

Because of the late spring at Grand-Metis, the tulips bloom in June, just after the snow has left the lower St. Lawrence. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)

A bouquet of the golden lady-slipper (Cyripedium), among the rare indigenous orchids to be found on the property at Grand-Metis. (Photo: Robert Wilson Reford)