The International Garden Festival is preparing its seventh edition and is issuing a call for entries to select some of the designers who will be invited to create temporary gardens for the 2006 Festival. This call for entries is open to all landscape architects, architects, artists and designers from Canada and abroad. The deadline for submission of entries is Monday, October 31, 2005. The Jardins de Mtis/Reford Gardens, located on the shores of the St. Lawrence and Mitis rivers in eastern Qubec, attract approximately 100,000 visitors every summer. Designed as a private garden by a collector and avid gardener, the Reford Gardens were declared a national historic site in 1996 by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The International Garden Festival, which takes place on a site adjacent to the historical gardens, is a unique forum for innovation and experimentation which consists in the presentation of temporary gardens created by Qubec, Canadian and international designers. Launched in 2000 the International Garden Festival has presented over 50 gardens by designers from nine countries. It is an exceptional showcase and launching pad for the participating designers from a host of disciplines. This artistic and tourism event also gives visitors a chance to discover inspiring spaces bringing together the visual arts, architecture, design, landscape and nature. The International Garden Festival is a past winner of the National Post Design Exchange Awards, the Grand Prix du tourisme qubcois in the "Tourist Attraction" category and the Attractions Canada Award for Quebec in the "Cultural Event" category. The Festival received the Award of excellence from the Socit des muses qubcois as the best exhibition of the year in 2002.
The International Garden Festival is managed by a not-for-profit foundation whose mission is the advancement of research and innovation in the art of gardens. For specific details on this call for entries, please visit www.jardinsmetis.com