Travel Tips

Botanical Garden

Montréal's "Green Giant"... its world-class Botanical Garden

Written by Ronald T. Harvie

What's the first image that comes to your mind when you hear the word "Montréal"?

For many people, it's a snow scene of some kind. After all, Montréal's renowned for hockey and ice storms and snow tires! Even one of Québec's most revered poets, Gilles Vigneault, sang "Mon pays, c'est l'hiver..." (My land is called winter...)

So, you'll be forgiven for not picturing one of the world's largest and finest botanical gardens-le Jardin botanique de Montréal, established in 1931. But picture this: 75 hectares (180 acres) of lush greenery and dazzling flowers stretching out beside the city's Olympic Stadium and its always-amazing "leaning" tower.

One of the planet's leading horticultural centres, Montréal's Botanical Garden showcases over 21,000 species of plant from all over the world, in 10 exhibition greenhouses, 30 outdoor gardens and a 40-hectare (96-acre) arboretum. It attracts over 1 million visitors each year-and even in the wintertime, 45% of them come from outside Montréal! The garden has an annual operating budget of over $20 million, 40% of which is self-engendered. Over 150 people work there full-time; in the summer that number blossoms to over 250!

Among other things, le Jardin botanique de Montréal is noted for its special events and exhibitions. This year alone features such intriguing shows as: "Musical Wood", an exploration of the secrets of how woods are selected and shaped to produce the most beautiful sounds; the "Great Gardening Weekend", a May fair for local enthusiasts featuring workshops, lectures, gardening personalities, a show-and-sale of new plants and products; the "Bonsai and Penjing Annual Show", one of North America's premier events concentrating on these fascinating plant-art forms; "Mediterranean Fragrances", a wintertime celebration of the most wonderful scents of Spain, Italy and the south of France.

Creative, innovative, accessible, fun-Montréal's Botanical Garden has developed its international reputation over 80 years at four different levels. It introduces people to the beauties, wonders and mysteries of the plant and insect worlds. It fosters environmental consciousness and the importance of green spaces in the urban landscape. It's a training ground for young horticulturalists, through the Louis Riel School of Horticulture. And it's a scientific institution, where research in genetics, ecology and biotechnology is conducted in partnership with the University of Montréal's Plant Biology Research Institute.

Now's a good time for an imaginary tour of some of the 30 thematic gardens in the Jardin botanique de Montréal.

Let's start with two of the most unexpected. The Chinese Garden is the largest of its kind outside Asia. Designed by the renowned architect Le Weizhong and opened in 1991, "Dream Lake Garden", as it is named, recalls the centuries-old private gardens of the southern Yangtze River area. A team of 48 craftspeople from China came to Montréal for six months to arrange and assemble the elements of this garden, whose design and architecture are perfectly in keeping with the concepts of yin and yang in the Chinese art of landscaping.

The Japanese Garden of 2.5 hectares is also the largest of its kind outside Japan. It opened in June, 1988. Designed by Ken Nakajima, internationally-acclaimed landscape architect, it blends the sober, traditional atmosphere of Japanese horticulture-there's a Zen "garden of silence" at its centre-with a more contemporary display of a number of flowering plants. In 1989, the garden Pavilion was added, designed by Hisato Hiraoka in the traditional kiwari method used for classic Japanese family homes.

The Rose Garden was established in 1976. Over 10,000 plants are laid out in winding beds sheltered by shrubs and trees. In 1992, new beds of shrub roses were added, along with arbors for climbing rose species. (Since most roses are sensitive to the cold, autumn visitors to the garden can watch the gardeners shrouding them in huge thermal blankets to shelter them from the rigours of the Montréal winter!)

One of the most whimsical areas is the Forest of the Montréals of France. Created in 1992 to mark Montréal's 350th anniversary, it is comprised of trees donated by the six towns in France named "Montréal." Altogether 23 species typical of their native environments recall the landscape of these other Montréals. The mayors of each of the towns even left their handprints in the map of France within the "forest" itself!

The Shade Garden has survived a rather tragic history. During the 1980s, the great elms which had towered over the garden were killed by Dutch elm disease. The garden had to be entirely replanted-but now maple, ash and linden trees have recreated the wonderful space, where people are reminded how magnificent a garden can be created in a cool refuge from the sun.

The Marsh and Bog Garden's collection of aquatic and wetland plants combines species native to Québec with more exotic foreign ones like water hyacinth and lotus. The Flowery Brook is a garden in the English style-that is to say "natural" looking as opposed to the structured symmetry of French or Italian gardens. Here, meandering flower beds are crisscrossed by a brook flowing down from the Alpine Garden, home to plants from the mountainous regions of Europe, Asia and North America, as well as from the Arctic. Originally planned in 1936, it was not completed until 1952!

The Exhibition Gardens are laid out in classical French landscaping style, and include the Perennial Garden, the Annual Garden, the Economic Plant Garden, the Monastery Garden and the Medicinal Plant Garden. Also here is the Garden of Innovations, showcasing the latest plant varieties and new trends in landscaping.

The Exhibition Greenhouses, open all year round, house permanent and thematic shows of seasonal plants and flowers. First opened in 1958, the ten climate-controlled greenhouses contain over 36,000 plants from 12,000 species and varieties. Main collections include orchids (an exceptional collection of over 1500 species and hybrids) bromeliads, aroids, cacti and succulents, gesneriads (African violets), ferns, begonias and Penjings (dwarf trees from China).

The Montréal Botanical Garden's Arboretum covers just over half its total acreage. It contains over 7,000 trees and shrubs from every area of the world, grouped by family for easier identification. The Arboretum holds special attractions year-round-from the amazing scents of lilac and apple blossoms in spring, to the cool, shady willow groves of summer, to the dazzling colours of autumn leaves, to the bird-watchers' and cross-country skiers' paradise of winter. In 1996, an exhibition and educational space, the Tree House, opened-a fascinating showplace dedicated to the wonders of wood.

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Got a taste for bugs?

Unique in North America is the Montréal Botanical Garden's Insectarium. Created in 1990 by entomologist Georges Brassard, its impressive collection comprises 160,000 insects and arthropods-both alive and preserved. The design of the building is in the form of a cicada-and attached to it is a magical Butterfly House, where visitors can wander among hundreds of free-flying butterflies in a garden of nectar-producing flowers. Although the Insectarium is primarily dedicated to education about, and research on the insect world, it has become one of the most popular parts of the whole garden complex. And, for the last several years, the Insectarium has hosted insect tasting evenings on weekends in November, when whole menus of unusual-to put it mildly!-treats are cooked up from insects and served to Montréal's adventurous public!

On August 2 2001, the Montréal Botanical Garden will be opening the First Nations Garden. The result of many years of collaboration between garden staff and a committee of First Nations people, this unique area will highlight the many close bonds between Amerindian and Inuit people with the plant world-the sacred uses of plants and trees; gathering plants for food and medicine; growing various vegetables; using wood for practical and artistic purposes. The new garden consists of five zones: a hardwood forest, a mixed forest, a nordic landscape, a visitors' pavilion and secluded meeting places.