She loved to walk and to write about what she saw. In her late teens or early twenties she bought a camera, taking pictures of her favorite places and people. She also took some photographs at weddings and gatherings. She preserved some of these photographs in her scrapbooks along with pictures she cut from magazines. The photographs and cut-outs tell stories of their own, adding another dimension to her diary entries, letters, and novels.

In her novels, stories, and poems, Montgomery captured the flavor of rural Canadian life, from the country kitchen to the local fascination with gossip and outsiders. She painted Prince Edward Island landscapes and seascapes (in nineteen of her twenty novels) in vivid, irresistible colors. Some of the book covers try to capture the character of PEI as Montgomery described it.