Montreal Botanical Garden

Founded in 1931 by Brother Marie-Victorin, a Christian Brother and botanist, the garden covers about seventy-five hectares with around twenty-two thousand plant species across thirty thematic gardens and ten greenhouses. The Chinese garden, the largest outside Asia, was built in 1991 by artisans from Shanghai using materials shipped from China; the Japanese garden has a tea pavilion and a substantial bonsai collection, some trees centuries old. The First Nations Garden covers plants used by Indigenous peoples of Quebec. Each autumn the Chinese garden hosts Gardens of Light, a lantern festival with silk lanterns made in Shanghai.

What you actually see

• The Chinese garden - the largest outside Asia, built by Shanghai artisans.
• The Japanese bonsai - a major collection with trees of great age.
• The First Nations Garden - plants used by Quebec's Indigenous peoples.
• Gardens of Light - an autumn lantern festival with Shanghai-made silk lanterns.

When to go

May to October for the outdoor gardens; the greenhouses run year-round. Gardens of Light runs September to October and is the busiest period, needing timed tickets.

Honest expectations

Outdoor gardens are bare from November to April, when only greenhouses are worth the ticket. The site is large with considerable walking. Lantern festival evenings are crowded and ticketed.

Nearby

Olympic Park adjoins; Jean-Talon Market lies west.