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Le Jardinier | The Gardener 

A jardinier/jardinière, or gardener, was a person who cultivated a garden. In the early days of the colony, gardens were utilitarian—they were meant to grow nutritional food. Gardeners grew fruits, vegetables and herbs, which were essential to survival in New France. They would generally sow seeds imported from France. Eventually, gardeners were able to use their own seeds, and included North American varieties as well. The one food the Canadians didn’t seem to like was the potato, which they found too bland. Gardeners mostly grew cabbage, onions, celery, salads, salt herbs, turnips, beets, carrots, beans and shallots.

As the new colonists became more familiar and knowledgeable with Canadian gardens, their bounty increased. By the end of the 17th century, gardens were well established, as was the variety of food eaten. Diets mostly consisted of bread, meat, fish, legumes and vegetables. The inhabitants also became experts at conserving food during the long winters.

Although most of the settlers had their own vegetable gardens, there were also French-style gardens for political institutions and religious communities. In these types of gardens, there was a part reserved for leisure (with trees and flowers) and the other for the vegetable garden.

Known persons who had this occupation: Jean Alexandre, François Artault, Louis Bellefeuille dit Larivière, François Bénard (son), Michel Berthelot dit l'Espérance, Jacques Branger dit Deslauriers, Camille Brien, Marcel Bruneau/Plante, John Buckle, Étienne Chayé, Gervais Chenon, René Chevalier, Cyr Cochois dit Le Parisien ou Le Dragon, Guillaume François Courbier/Sansfaçon, Michel Cureux dit Saint-Germain, Nicolas de Villeneau dit Champagne, Nicolas Gilles Chauvin, François Deblé, Denis Dieudonné, Gabriel Duchesne, Laurent Ducontour dit Brindamour, Jean Favre dit St-Jean, Louis Guilbault, Nicolas Hamelin Lachaise, Pierre Henry, Charles Hervé dit Saint-Jean, Jacques Jarnac, Jacques Julien dit Le Dragon, Jean Larmarguerite/Marguery/Vadeboncoeur, Jean Lannolier dit Languedoc, Charles Laurent, Joseph-Geoffroy Louchet dit Lafontaine, Jean Maheu dit Laramée, James Melville/Melvin, Blaise Perrot, Joseph/Josef Quimbert/Kember, Marcial Rega dit Lajeunesse, Jacques Ruel, Pierre Saurel dit Marly, Louis Sedilot, Michael Sheely, Guillaume Tanguy, Jean Turcot, Jean Jacques Veron, Alexandre Wilkins

Sources:

• Clerk, Nathalie, "Historic Gardens", In The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Canada. Article published October 17, 2011; Last Edited March 04, 2015. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/historic-gardens.

• “Gardens in Canada”, Château Ramezay – Historic Site and Museum of Montréal  (https://www.chateauramezay.qc.ca/en/garden/gardens-canada/).