The International Garden Festival Celebrates its 20th Edition | Playgrounds

International Garden Festival
Reford Gardens – view of Saint Lawrence river
Photo credit: Jean-Christophe Lemay

The International Garden Festival celebrates its 20th edition in the presence of 40 designers and more than 100 friends of the Festival. 

Born in the world-wide celebrations of the new millennium in the ear 2000, the Festival has delivered on its promise of renewing the art of the garden. Whimsical and colorful, the conceptual gardens exhibited have wowed visitors and illustrated the remarkable creativity and imagination of landscape architects, architects and artists from Canada and around the world.

International Garden Festival
Ici et ailleurs
José Luis Torres – Montmagny (Québec) Canada
Photo credit: Jean-Christophe Lemay

The International Garden Festival is celebrating this year its 20th edition and having some fun. Terrains de jeu – Playgrounds is fertile ground for creativity, encompassing both the notion of compact space and play. 

International Garden Festival
The Colours of Métis
SOWATORINI Landshaft [Sébastien Sowa & Gianluca Torini] & sevengardens [Isabelle Smolin]
– Berlin et Essen, Germany
Photo credit: Jean-Christophe Lemay

Terrains de jeu of the 2019 edition have transformed the Festival site into a giant playground for exploration and amusement. In a world where humans dwell in urban towers and live increasingly distant from natural phenomena, to “go out and play” is becoming increasingly imperative. 

International Garden Festival
Le dernier petit cochon
APPAREIL Architecture – Montréal (Québec) Canada
Photo credit: Martin Bond

Child-friendly without being childish, adventurous without being unsafe, the interactive gardens of the 2019 Festival are curated spaces that are an invitation to interact with nature.

The new gardens selected by the jury for the 2019 edition that are on display are:

Dirt Ground 
Silvia Bachetti & Agnese Casadio
– Bologna, Italy

International Garden Festival
Dirt Ground 
Silvia Bachetti & Agnese Casadio – Bologna, Italy
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
Dirt Ground 
Silvia Bachetti & Agnese Casadio – Bologna, Italy
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
Dirt Ground 
Silvia Bachetti & Agnese Casadio – Bologna, Italy
Photo credit: Jean-Christophe Lemay

Le dernier petit cochon
APPAREIL Architecture
– Montréal (Québec) Canada

International Garden Festival
Le dernier petit cochon
APPAREIL Architecture – Montréal (Québec) Canada
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
Le dernier petit cochon
APPAREIL Architecture – Montréal (Québec) Canada
Photo credit: Martin Bond

Forêt
Mathilde Leveau & Ronan Virondaud
– Québec (Québec) Canada 

International Garden Festival
Forêt
Mathilde Leveau & Ronan Virondaud – Québec (Québec) Canada
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
Forêt
Mathilde Leveau & Ronan Virondaud – Québec (Québec) Canada
Photo credit: Martin Bond

The Colours of Métis
SOWATORINI Landshaft [Sébastien Sowa & Gianluca Torini] & sevengardens [Isabelle Smolin]
– Berlin & Essen, Germany

International Garden Festival
The Colours of Métis
SOWATORINI Landshaft [Sébastien Sowa & Gianluca Torini] & sevengardens [Isabelle Smolin]
– Berlin et Essen, Germany
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
The Colours of Métis
SOWATORINI Landshaft [Sébastien Sowa & Gianluca Torini] & sevengardens [Isabelle Smolin]
– Berlin et Essen, Germany
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
The Colours of Métis
SOWATORINI Landshaft [Sébastien Sowa & Gianluca Torini] & sevengardens [Isabelle Smolin]
– Berlin et Essen, Germany
Photo credit: Martin Bond

Making Waves
Ted Kesik, Cornel Campbell, Thevishka Kanishkan, Reesha Morar & Anton Skorishchenko
– Toronto (Ontario) Canada 

International Garden Festival
Making Waves
Ted Kesik, Cornel Campbell, Thevishka Kanishkan, Reesha Morar & Anton Skorishchenko
– Toronto (Ontario) Canada 
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
Making Waves
Ted Kesik, Cornel Campbell, Thevishka Kanishkan, Reesha Morar & Anton Skorishchenko
– Toronto (Ontario) Canada 
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
Making Waves
Ted Kesik, Cornel Campbell, Thevishka Kanishkan, Reesha Morar & Anton Skorishchenko
– Toronto (Ontario) Canada 
Photo credit: Martin Bond

Ici et ailleurs
José Luis Torres
– Montmagny (Québec) Canada 

International Garden Festival
Ici et ailleurs
José Luis Torres – Montmagny (Québec) Canada
Photo credit: Martin Bond
International Garden Festival
Ici et ailleurs
José Luis Torres – Montmagny (Québec) Canada
Photo credit: Martin Bond

The gardens are open every day until Sunday, October 6, 2019. Children 13 and under are admitted free of charge.

About Damian Holmes 3401 Articles
Damian Holmes is the Founder and Editor of World Landscape Architecture (WLA). He is a registered landscape architect (AILA) working in international design practice in Australia. Damian founded WLA in 2007 to provide a website for landscape architects written by landscape architects. Connect on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianholmes/