The Greater Perfection

Still have landscape and garden views on my brain,  maybe because we are on the homestretch to Spring or I have watched too many  segments of Monty Don's  Gardens of the World.  He's British, so his effusiveness is excused and often I can't make out what he is saying anyways as my sister ( a masterful gardener in her own right) and my  Dad are howling with laughter ridiculing Monty as he jaunts along with his hunting bag discussing the aesthetics of various squash and rhutabaga!   The bag really bothers my Dad: why is he carrying that stupid bag? I worry what he says behind my back???  I recommend the series because it does put the garden in a cultural context a la art history be they grandiose or humble raft gardens floating down the Amazon.

On the grand garden scale, I had the amazing opportunity of visiting such overlooking the St. Lawrence River north of Quebec City at a tiny summer resort called  La Malabaie.  The garden is called Les Quatre Vents.  My uncle had organized a family reunion with the Sewell side of our family of which the Cabot family are relatives.  Garden conservationists will know Francis Cabot's name . His family were gracious hosts to 60 of us for lunch and a garden tour.  I will never forget the view down to the majestic St. Lawrence.  Cabot had copies of his book  The Greater Perfection for sale and I bought one for my sister which Frank signed with "Long life to those who enjoy gardens!" The title is mysterious and beyond my understanding, taken from a  poem by Francis Bacon written in 1625.  Now what would Monty Don say about that?