Happy Friday, GPODers!
Garden planning for 2026 is well under way, but there is another activity I love to plan this time of year: travel. As I consider what destinations I want to cross off my bucket list next, I also contemplate the public gardens I might be able to include in each trip. Thankfully, Garden Photo of the Day has long been a source for inspiration and ideas, and today Maria Nieuwenhof from Richmond, Québec, Canada (Zone 5a), has shared another public garden I’m adding to my list of must-sees. Maria has shared her gardening highlights a few times in the past (check out her previous submissions: Maria’s Québec Garden, A Year of Bouquets From the Gardenand Maria Passes Down a Passion for Gardening), but today she is sharing photos from a trip she made to Marie-Victorin Park in Kingsey Falls, Québec.
Hi. I am Maria from Richmond, Québec. My husband and I had the privilege to visit the magnificent Parc Marie-Victorin in Kingsey Falls. This park is close to our home and celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. This park is dedicated to Brother Marie-Victorin, born in this village, a grand botanist of his time in our province and the founder of the Montreal Botanical Garden. He is also the author of the 1935 garden book Laurentian florawhich is still a reference today.
Flower beds as you enter the gardens celebrating 40 years this year
A pavilion to stop for a rest and observe all the lovely flowers out of the sun
A flower bed full of annuals
An example of the sculptures in the gardens
There was a collection of different silphiums. Pictured: cup plant (Silph perfoliatum, Zones 3–9)
A big beautiful hydrangea
The humid area with lots of insects flying around
A reflecting pool in the water garden
An example of the plants in the greenhouse, a ‘Bug Bat’ pitcher plant (Sarracenia ‘Bug Bat’, Zones 5–9)
Another carnivorous greenhouse plant: Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipulaZones 5–9)
Thank you so much for sharing this fabulous public garden with us, Marie! There are so many incredible garden institutions around the world, but there is always room to add another must-see plant destination to the bucket list.
Did you visit any great public gardens for the first time last year? Or have you made a wintertime visit to your favorite local botanical garden in the past couple of months? We would love to hear about what you saw and see photos from your trip. Follow the NEW directions below to submit your photos to Garden Photo of the Day!
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, fill out the Garden Photo of the Day Submission Form.
You can also send 5–10 photos to (email protected) along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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