Musée des Acadiens des Pubnicos et Centre de recherche
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TRADITIONAL ACADIAN GARDEN

The Société historique acadienne de Pubnico-Ouest, in Nova Scotia, in partnership with the Club de jardin de Pubnico-Ouest and the Canada Millennium Partnership are recreating, for current and future generations, a traditional Acadian garden in the rear courtyard of the museum.

The project includes the planting of trees and flowers, as well as an herb and vegetable garden, like that tended by the first Acadians.   The purpose of this environment is to help convey this aspect of Acadia to thousands of students, residents and Canadian and foreign visitors.  At the same time a place for learning and an oasis of tranquility, the garden will be for many years a showcase of this aspect of Acadian culture in a natural environment.

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Preparing the logs		 garden02.jpg (37924 bytes)
Wormwood		 garden04.jpg (42066 bytes)
Celebration in the garden
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The garden		 garden03.jpg (50881 bytes)
Official opening		 garden06.jpg (64514 bytes)
One of the beds
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One of the beds
Scarlet Runner		 garden08.jpg (65918 bytes)
Three of the beds

  The plot of land is rectangle, with the length twice the width.  It is then divided into smaller beds, by a system of paths, to divide into equal sized beds.  The main paths are 1.5 meters wide (approx. 5 feet), and smaller paths inside the garden, for easy access to the plants.

Aromatic plants and nice shrubs would border the garden, for viewing pleasure.  The Acadians would grow many root crops, because they are easily stored through the winter.  Vegetables, flowering plants, and herbs grew side by side, with no real order of plant material.

The plant selection would have to supply food, medicine, flavourings, dye, insect repellant, air refreshers, pain killers, and cosmetics.

Plants and vegetables used in the garden were selected to represent the typical plants and vegetables which the Acadians would have had access to in 1653.

Vegetables and fruits in the garden:

Onion
Beet
String bean
Pea
Carrot
Lettuce
Parsnip
Radish
Turnip
Cabbage
Raspberry
Gooseberry
Artichoke
Currents

Herbs in the garden:

Lovage
Horseradish
Tansy
Wormwood
Chamomile
Lavender
Velerian
Yellow Iris
Calendula
Parsley
Chives
Thyme
Hyssop
Sage
Willow hedge

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