Visit the Montreal Botanical Garden
The Montreal Botanical Garden Offers Four Seasons of Colorful Flora
May 21, 2009
Teacher and botanist Brother Marie Victorin established the Montreal Botanical Garden in 1931. It has since blossomed into one of the world’s premier botanical gardens. A visit is highly recommended any time of year. Here’s an annual calendar of events.
Butterflies Go Free Rite of Spring
From February through April some 15,000 butterflies take flight in the main exhibition greenhouse with the annual Butterflies Go Free rite of spring. They’re very friendly and drawn to bright colors and fruit-scented shampoo — just don’t overdo the perfume. Expect a crowd during school break and Easter weekend.
In May, visitors can smell the 400 purple, pink, and white lilac shrubs and trees before they can see them. And a green thumb’s up goes to the annual Great Gardening Weekend, which takes place the last weekend of the month. It features some 150 exhibitors who offer gardening tips, specialized handcrafts and tools, and the garden’s own heritage plant sale.
Summer Tours Go Outdoors at the Japanese and First Nations Gardens
A number of guided tours are held throughout the summer. The general hour-long guided tour of the outdoor gardens is held daily in summer. “Sundays under the Trees” is the garden tour of the arboretum, which highlights everything from the juniper to favorite woods of woodworkers.
For a well-deserved moment of Zen, the Japanese Garden hosts tours and authentic tea ceremony demonstrations. Then discover garden harmony combining plants, water, stones, and architecture in a Chinese Gardens tour of Dream Lake. The First Nations Garden offers a look at deciduous trees, conifers, and the three sisters dietary staple of squash, beans, and corn.
The most unique tour of all is at the Courtyard of the Senses, a thoughtfully planned garden space of sensory delights geared for those who are visually impaired. The garden was specially designed with sensory elements of touch, smell, and even taste. Braille markers line the tour and blindfolds are optional for visitors who wish to experience nature in a new light.
Fall Promises an Illuminating Experience with the Magic of Lanterns
In September and October, the Magic of Lanterns — the garden’s most popular event — promises an illuminating experience as some 800 imported colorful silk lanterns light up the Chinese Garden during Montreal’s crisp autumn nights. A new theme is colorfully interpreted every year.
Winter Visits Embark to Warmer Destinations at the Main Exhibition Greenhouses
Come wintertime, there’s nothing like a tour of the 10 indoor exhibition greenhouses to get visitors going from zero to 70 — degrees that is. The Tropical Food Plants Greenhouse was recently refurbished in early 2009. The space offers new plants, a new walkway stroll, and a centerpiece observation deck that takes visitors to the tops of banana trees and coconut palms. There are 80 plants species on display, basically a trip through the kitchen, with species that include grapefruit, papaya, avocado, coconut, date, fig, ginger, sugar cane, rice, banana, pineapple, tea, coffee, and carob. Other greenhouses duplicate the likes of a Spanish hacienda and a Zen-inspired bonsai garden.
- The Montreal Botanical Garden is at 4101 Sherbrooke St. E.
- Take Metro station Pie-IX or Viau.
- Summer garden hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (check the Web site for specific tour times).
- High-season, non-Quebec resident rates cost $16 for adults, $12 for seniors, $8 for children 5 to 17, and $2.50 for children 2 to 4.
- Call (514) 872-1400.
- Admission includes access to the Montreal Insectarium, a museum devoted to the world of bugs.
- Directions from the U.S. (New York I-87): Take 15 Nord (15 North) directly into Route 132/20 East. Take sortie 8 (exit 8) for the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Cross the bridge, bear left, and follow signs for Sherbrooke Street (at the top of the hill). Turn right at Sherbrooke Street and continue for about ten minutes. The Montreal Botanical Garden is on your left across from Olympic Stadium. Turn left at first light after Boulevard Pie-IX for parking lot. Parking costs $10.
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