Beautiful

Here at Moorside, King's ideas about gardens and landscaping, particularly in harmony with nature, came to full fruition. The grounds are scattered with benches, bird houses, and floral plantings, surrounded by woodland. The full estate is 571 acres in size, much of that forested, with trails made by King himself.

He had a habit of collecting pieces of architecture and incorporating them here, some into full scale structures that are called follies- buildings that have no purpose but to be decorative.

He also established a series of gardens along the slope leading down from the house, two of them more formal gardens and one of them being very informal. This display looks at the French and English gardens, in how they are arranged and some of the flowers and plants in them.

I decided to take a panoramic shot from here.

It was time to get closer to these beautiful gardens, with blooms even at this time of year.

The first folly is called A Window On The Forest, and through its arches can be seen the Rock Garden. It was taken from a building being demolished in Ottawa.

And here it is. The rise of Canadian Shield rocks beyond it includes flowers and plants King wanted there.