Corkscrew hazel, beautifully displayed.
‘Jacqueline Hillier’ elm, pruned artfully.
Moai with cactus and a variegated sedum.
Beautiful Gardens
Denis Diotte and Richard Sarault Gatineau, Quebec
Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie 32 • 2022
Issue 2
F
inicky is not the right word. Someone finicky—fastidious? or exacting?—connotes an old fussbudget, and Denis isn’t that at all. He is warm and, with his partner, Richard Sarault, invites you into the garden with the understated pride of the parent of a prodigy. Yet what could you call it when someone pulls the pine needles off the branches before they fall so that they don’t make a mess? Meticulous? Conscientious. Denis laughs at himself. He knows he is more particular than most. But he loves what he has built and spends 15 or 20 hours per week to keep it that way in the spring. He estimates localgardener.net
