| Botanical garden/Insectarium tips and photos posted by real travelers and Montreal locals. • 141 Photos
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 Butterflies Go Free by nickyte
TIPS on how to shine and let butterflies alight on you.
- Wear bright colors.
- Stay under sun ray's spot. (the green house is in glass roofing and lots of shade from the trees cover some part).
-Squeeze a drop of orange on the tip of your fingers if you would like the butterfly to have a dainty and soft landing on it.
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 The Magic of Lanterns by nickyte
For the 360º virtual panoramic view of the picture beside, go here. Leave a Comment
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Our final stop on the first day was at the Botanic Gardens, I actually hadn’t intended on going to them since it was already around 4 pm but we were there, it was a warm sunny day and I wasn’t quite ready to hop in the car for the long drive to Quebec City. The Gardens here are the 2nd largest in the world behind Kew Gardens near London and well worth a visit if you are a fan of gardens.
Since our visit was short we stopped briefly at the sensory gardens, a delightful place where you can touch and smell various plants and then onto the greenhouse since the indoor gardens close before the outside. We didn’t spend much time here but the greenhouses were very nicely arranged and comprehensive. They had a lovely collection of orchids, which are my favorite flowers and they have some really interesting spotted begonias.
Back outside, we headed for what I thought was the highlight of the gardens, the Chinese Garden, featuring several buildings of traditional Chinese architecture overlooking a lake and a lovely collection of penjing, the Chinese equivalent of bonsai, some of them listed as being over 200 years old. The website below has wonderful descriptions of the elements that go into the different gardens and is well worth a look BEFORE you go to heighten your appreciation of what you are looking at, the website is really well done.
Other highlights include the Japanese Garden with it’s collection of bonsai plants, the Rose Garden which was in full bloom during our visit, and the First Nations Garden featuring Canada’s native plants and trees. Included in the admission is the Insectarium, we unfortunately didn’t have time to visit.
Admission is a rather steep $12.75 CAD, it’s included on the Montreal Museum Pass so consider getting one if you plan on visiting the Biodome, the Botanic Gardens and a couple of museums. We spent about 2 hours here and could have easily spent a couple more hours. Leave a Comment
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 Chinese Garden by emilienoelle
An avid gardener myself, I was truly impressed by the size, health and quality of the plants with Montreal being so far north. Some of my favorite gardens were the Chinese Garden, a huge exhibit complete with its own pond and small mountain, and the water garden, a series of man-made ponds in which several varieties of water lillies flourished beautifully.
There is also an arboretum here where you can see many varieties of trees. They even have a shuttle bus to take you there, as it is a long walk from the main entrance.
The greenhouses are not to be missed. One of the most varied and gorgeous collections of orchids I have ever seen is housed there among many other varieties of tropical plants and trees. Complete information is given about each flower and plant in both French and English.
Also on the grounds of le Jardin Botanique is the Insectarium, a museum completely dedicated to the study of creepy crawlers. The majority of the insects here are preserved specimens, which takes away somewhat from their creepiness. However, they do have a tank full of South American millipedes. I did my best to avoid looking at those, but you may enjoy them. Some of the most interesting bugs we found here were the giant moths and butterflies from Africa. If you've never seen any you'll be amazed at their size. The only down point to our Insectarium visit was that it was a very hot day and the building is not air conditioned. After a while the indoor temperature became too much for us to handle, but you should be fine on a cooler day.
Admission to the gardens and insectarium was $10.50 (Can.) but you can buy tickets to the gardens only for a bit less. Leave a Comment Address: 4101 rue Sherbrooke estPhone: 514-872-1400Directions: You can take the metro to the Olympic Park stop and walk. It is only a few blocks. There is also bus service all along rue Sherbrooke.
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The Chinese gardens are the most elaborate and highlight of the Jardin Botanique. There are so much more than just a garden of Chinese plants. The exhibit includes a small rice exhibit, numerous examples of chinese Architecture and even live performances from Chines traditional artists. Leave a Comment
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The Japanese gardens are much more simple reflection a zen minimalist approach. There are gardens around a pond and a pavilion with Japanese cultural exhibits Leave a Comment
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 Can see Olympic tower fm Botan
garden in Montreal by jumpingnorman, 3 more photos
There is also a train ride that goes from site to site evrynow and then.
The Chinese garden reminded me of those that I saw in Beijing. It has many winding paths, an artificial mountain, and a building in the Chinese style housing a collection of "penjing"(the ancient Chinese art of growing trees and plants, kept small by skilled pruning and formed to create an aesthetic shape and the complex illusion of age). The garden is the largest Chinese garden in the world outside China.
The Japanese Garden is populated with (of course) Japanese plants, and it contains a building in the Japanese style containing an exhibit on tea. The Japanese tea ceremony is performed there during the summer and other traditional Japanese arts, such as Iaido and Ikebana are occasionally demonstrated there as well. It also includes a large koi pond where visitors can feed the koi fish.
The First Nations Garden is populated with Canadian plants; the maple, birch, and pine trees. It has several totem poles and exhibits demonstrating traditional Native American artwork.
The Alpine Garden has several paths winding over a rocky outcrop which is covered with tiny, delicate alpine plants.
Other gardens include the poisonous plants garden (which has samples of various poisonous plants along with information on the effects of various doses), the economic plants exhibit, the flowery brook, and an arboretum. The botanical gardens are also the home to some wildlife; primarily squirrels, ducks, turtles and herons. Leave a Comment Address: 4101 Sherbrooke Street EastDirections: at the corner of Pie-IX and Sherbrooke Streets.
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 Monarch Butterfly by vibi68Leave a Comment
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The single best botanical gardens I have ever visited! Its actually much more than just botanical gardens, the Chinese, Japanese and First peoples sections are as much outdoor cultural museums as botanical gardens. Do not miss this if you visit Montreal. Leave a Comment
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Out on the northeast side of Montreal, a huge, very well kept up garden area. The Insectarium is on the grounds too.
It’s divided up into many different areas. There’s a real peaceful area called Japanese garden built to remind you of a Japanese garden with a small waterfall, quiet big pond and a little Japanese-like building. Another one is dedicated to the First Nations (or what an American would call Native Americans--I like their wording better) gardens and plants. Also a rhododendron and azalea area. Shade garden and Chinese garden.
In the main building where you buy your ticket and get the layout of the land there is an enclosed greenhouse area that emulates different areas of the world. There is a big area that has many cacti and plants from the dessert southwest, walk thru that building and you’re in the middle of a South American rainforest with their plants everywhere and the humidity beating down on you, walk thru that and you’re in Africa with cacao trees and other things from that area--and so on. Nice place to spend a few hours when the cement, hustle and bustle of the city start to wear on you.
You’ll spend 2-8 hours here. Try to combine it with any combinations of the Insectarium, Biodome & Olympic Stadium if possible, since they’re all in the same block or two.
Part of the museum pass Leave a Comment
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