Spectacular gardens at Fanningbank reopen to public - Action News
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PEI

Spectacular gardens at Fanningbank reopen to public

P.E.I.'s Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry is pleased that the gardens at the Fanningbank estate in Charlottetown will once again be open to the public to tour, starting Monday, June 28.

Government House was closed last summer because of COVID-19

Fabulous gardens at Fanningbank will open to the public for self-guided tours

3 years ago
Duration 1:56
Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry shows CBC's Sara Fraser around the Victorian-style gardens at Government House.

P.E.I.'s Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry is pleased that the gardens at the Fanningbank estate in Charlottetown will once again be open to the public to tour, starting Monday, June 28.

Last summer thehistoric building was closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's one ofthe nicest gardens in P.E.I.," Perry said. "People like to come and learn about theflora."

Anyone can come on foot to see the gardens from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, she said. Guides will offer a scaled-down version of house tours too, Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Three gardeners work full-time looking after the four hectare(10-acre) property. Much of it is mature shade trees and lush lawn, with a formal Victorian-style garden asthe showpiece.

She steals carrots

Perry was an avid flower and vegetable gardener at her home in Tignish before she was appointed lieutenant-governor.

The formal Victorian-style gardens at Fanningbank, the estate of P.E.I.'s lieutenant-governor, are bordered in neatly groomed boxwood. (Sara Fraser/CBC)
It's prime time for peonies in Island gardens, and the public is invited back to Fanningbank in Charlottetown to see them and other bountiful flora. (Sara Fraser/CBC)

She walks in the gardens at Fanningbank every day, she said, but she doesn't have time to actively garden.

"I go to the vegetable garden, steal the odd carrot you have to do that!" she said with a laugh.

Decisions about the garden are made by a committee of five or so people, Perry said, a sub-committee of the committee that makes decisions about any changes to Government House.

Shrub roses in the gardens at Fanningbank smell heavenly and pack a visual punch. (Sara Fraser/CBC)
Daylilies really do bloom for just one day, but have many blooms so the plants put on a show for weeks. (Sara Fraser/CBC)

Perry has planted a pink rose bush to leave her own mark on the garden, and this year is introducing several different kinds of lavender, donated by a local lavenderfarm.

It's not all smooth sailing, even with all the resources at their disposal: a recent beetle infestation killed off hundreds ofrose bushesin the garden. Gardeners replaced them with hardy daylilies.

These irises, tucked in the shade beneath some towering birch trees at Fanningbank, are having a last hurrah on this late-June day. (Sara Fraser/CBC)

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