Behind-the-scenes: Louis Rinfret, Horticulturist at the Jardin botanique de Montréal and responsible for the Japanese Garden, tells us about this type of garden’s unique characteristics and symbols.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed getting
my hands in dirt. But I started out in another direction.
I studied music – the transverse flute.
Only later did I decide to take a horticulture course at the École du Jardin botanique.
When a position opened at the Japanese Garden, I was interested, because I’ve always been fascinated by the refinement of the Japanese people. I had the chance to attend a seminar in Art & Design at Kyoto University. Then I was invited for a 2-month internship with Naoe Suzuki, a specialist who was restoring
the imperial gardens.
Every garden at the Jardin botanique is very beautiful. Many are special collections. But the Japanese Garden is not a
collection of Japanese plants. It’s more of an ambience garden…
offering visitors a series of landscapes as they stroll along the path, approach a bridge or relax at the sukiya pavilion,
facing the cascade.
The 3 main elements of the Japanese garden, in order of importance are stones, water and plants. Stones create relief in the garden. They anchor it, making it look like a large landscape.
Water is everywhere in the garden. It flows in the streams,
tumbles in the mountain cascade and runs into the pond,
which symbolizes the ocean.
You might think plants are the most important part of a garden.
But here they serve to punctuate the scenery.
What’s important to remember is that a Japanese garden is about
the absence of unnecessary details. It’s an idealized version of nature, shaped by humans.
In spring, pine buds grow shoots. So we prune them by hand
while they’re still tender. It helps control the tree’s growth and reshape the pine grove. It’s the same method used to trim bonsais, for example.
I have four gardeners who contribute to this beautiful garden.
Team work is a very important part of the job. As is sharing our passion with co-workers.
The garden is constantly evolving. We always need to be ready for changing situations, like plants dying or looking sick. We need to find solutionsto replace them. Here, there was a mountain
of oriental spruces, but unfortunately, they froze. It gave us the chance to open up the landscape. We covered the ground with pachysandra (Pachyssandra terminalis), prepared for us by
the propagation team. We continued growing it in the nursery, until it was ready to be transferred to the garden.
One of our best accomplishments was the small islands in the pond. At the time, there were junipers and day lilies.
And we reconstituted an island with pine trees. Often, in Japanese stroll gardens, islands will have pine trees. That’s because pines are a symbol of longevity. They live long, and also the Japanese see faraway islands as inhabited by gods, immortals.
I think we gain self-knowledge and also a certain maturity by looking after a garden. And it helps us move the garden in
the right direction.”
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Music credit: www.bensound.com
Photo credit for the cover: Louise Tanguay