Les Quatre Vents (pronounced lay KAT-ruh vah)(translation: the four winds) is almost unknown outside gardening circles. But among gardeners and horticulturists it has a mythical reputation. Les Quatre Vents is a 200 acre estate a few miles northeast of La Malbaie, Quebec overlooking the St. Lawrence River. The property that became Les Quatre Vents was purchased in 1902 as a vacation retreat for a branch of the Cabot family. The Cabots were one of the leading families of Boston, the so-called Boston Brahmins. They and the other Boston Brahmins established themselves in New England in the 18th century and grew wealthy from trading and shipping. Typical trading runs for New England-based traders in the 17th and 18th century included West Indian sugar and rum to colonial America, American tobacco to Europe, African slaves to the West Indies, and Chinese tea, silk and porcelain to Europe. It also included one particularly lucrative trade: Turkish opium to China, sort of the early American version of the Sinaloa Cartel. The Cabots moved on from shipping, slaving and drug running to politics producing U.S. senators and ambassadors. The Cabots were big political rivals of the Kennedys in the mid 20th century and competed for Massachusetts senatorial seats in Congress.

The chateauesque manor house on the property was designed by New York architect Frederick Rhinelander King to replace an earlier 1928 house that burned down in 1956. The current house was completed in 1959. An interesting side note regarding Mr. King is that he competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics back when architecture and other art forms were actual medal events. In 1965, Francis “Frank” Higginson Cabot inherited Les Quatre Vents and undertook the gradual creation of the incredible landscape garden that exists today. Frank was Harvard-educated and worked on Wall Street for many years before deciding that his true gift was landscape architecture and horticulture. Frank and his wife, Anne, had already created an outstanding garden at their weekend retreat outside of New York City, called Stonecrop Garden, that is now open to the public. In 1975, they moved to Les Quatre Vents full-time and devoted their retirement to developing the gardens. Frank was a true plant hunter and travelled around the world looking for specimens to try out at Les Quatre Vents.

One of Frank and Anne’s major achievements was the creation of The Garden Conservancy in 1989. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving notable gardens, both private and public, for the enjoyment of future generations. They do this through grants and advocacy and, to date, have been instrumental in preserving more than 100 gardens in 26 states and provinces, gardens that might have otherwise fallen victim to development once their gardener-creators had passed away.

Frank Cabot passed away in 2011 but Les Quatre Vents is still in the family and they continue to pursue Frank’s vision. Les Quatre Vents is not open to the public although they do conduct tours four or five days each summer. Tour tickets are reportedly very difficult to get and require advance planning. For anyone interested in getting a close look at Les Quatre Vents, an excellent documentary about the Cabots and their garden, called The Gardener, was produced in 2018 and can be seen on YouTube here. In addition, Frank Cabot wrote a book about Les Quatre Vents loaded with beautiful photos of the gardens called The Greater Perfection (out of print but available on Amazon for several hundred dollars).