Montreal Botanical Garden facts for kids
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The administration building
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| Date opened | June 9, 1931 |
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| Location | 4101 Sherbrooke Street East, Montreal, Quebec H1X 2B2 |
| Land area | 75 hectares (190 acres) |
| Coordinates | 45°33′26.00″N 73°33′24.50″W / 45.5572222°N 73.5568056°W |
| No. of species | 22,000 |
| Annual visitors | 695,404 (2011) including Insectarium |
The Montreal Botanical Garden (also known as Jardin botanique de Montréal in French) is a huge and amazing place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has 75 hectares (that's about 185 acres!) of beautiful gardens and special greenhouses. It's known as one of the most important botanical gardens on Earth. This is because it has so many different plant collections and cool facilities to explore. In 2008, it became a National Historic Site of Canada.
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Discovering the Montreal Botanical Garden
The Botanical Garden is located at 4101 Sherbrooke Street East. It's right across from Montreal's Olympic Stadium. You can find it in Maisonneuve Park in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie area.
This garden has many greenhouses filled with plants from all over the world. It also has several large outdoor gardens, each with its own special theme. While the outdoor gardens are covered in snow from November to April, the greenhouses are open all year. They even host the popular Butterflies Go Free exhibit every year from February to April.
How the Garden Started
The garden was created in 1931 during a tough time called the Great Depression. Mayor Camillien Houde helped make it happen. He was inspired by Fr. Marie-Victorin, who had campaigned for years to build it. Fr. Marie-Victorin also wrote an important book about Quebec's plants.
The garden's design was created by Henry Teuscher. The main administration building, with its cool Art Deco style, was designed by Lucien F. Kéroack.
More Than Just Plants
The garden helps teach people about plants and how to grow them. It also works to protect plant species that are in danger. It's home to a research center for plants and the Société d'astronomie de Montréal (Montreal Astronomy Society). You can also find the Montreal Insectarium here, which is a museum all about insects!
Even though there's an admission fee, people who live in Montreal can get a free pass for the outdoor gardens. This means many locals visit often, even just to relax under the trees. The closest subway station is Pie-IX, which is right by the Olympic Stadium.
The Montreal Botanical Garden is part of a group of four nature attractions called Space for Life (Espace pour la vie). These attractions are all close to the Olympic Stadium. The others are the Biodome, the Insectarium, and the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium.
Exploring Thematic Gardens
The Botanical Garden has many unique gardens to explore. Each one offers a different experience.
The Chinese Garden
This garden is built in the traditional style of a Ming dynasty Chinese garden. It covers 2.5 hectares (about 6 acres) and has winding paths and an artificial mountain. There's a Chinese-style building that holds a collection of tiny bonsai and penjing trees. The garden is filled with plants from China. It was built between 1990 and 1991 by 50 skilled artisans from Shanghai. They even imported 120 containers of materials, including 500 tonnes of special stone!
The Japanese Garden
Created in 1988, this 2.5-hectare garden features Japanese plants. It has a Japanese-style building where you can learn about tea. During the summer, you can watch a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Sometimes, other Japanese arts like Iaido (a sword art) and Ikebana (flower arranging) are shown here. There's also a big koi pond where visitors love to feed the fish. Every year on August 5th, the garden holds a ceremony to remember the Hiroshima event, with a special Japanese Peace Bell ringing each hour.
The First Nations Garden
Opened in 2001, this garden celebrates the cultures of Canada's Indigenous people. It features plants native to Quebec and other parts of North America. You'll see maple, birch, and pine trees shading the paths. The garden highlights the medicinal and food plants used by First Nations. It also has several totem poles and displays of traditional artwork and building methods.
The Alpine Garden
This garden has paths that wind over a rocky area. It's home to many tiny, delicate alpine plants that grow in mountain regions.
Other Interesting Gardens
You can also find a garden of poisonous plants, which shows different toxic plants and explains their effects. There's an exhibit on economic plants (plants used for products), a flowery brook, and an arboretum (a collection of trees). The gardens are also home to some wildlife, like squirrels, ducks, turtles, and even herons.
The Lion de la Feuillée Statue
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| Coordinates | 45°33′31″N 73°33′20″W / 45.55868°N 73.55565°W |
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| Location | Sherbrooke Street |
| Type | Monument |
| Material | Bronze |
| Height | 1.4 metres (4.6 ft) |
| Opening date | September 28, 1831 |
The Lion de la Feuillée is a cool bronze statue located inside the Montreal Botanical Garden. This large lion sits at the entrance to the rose garden. It was a gift from the city of Lyon, France, in 1992, to celebrate Montreal's 350th anniversary.
This lion is one of four copies of an original work by René Dardel. The first lion statues were placed on the Feuillée Bridge in Lyon, France, in 1831. When the bridge was rebuilt in 1910, the lions were moved. In 1992, one of them found its new home in Montreal.
The Ouellet-Robert Insect Collection
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The Ouellet-Robert Collection, also known as QMOR, is a huge collection of insects from the University of Montreal. It's one of the most important insect collections in Canada. As of 2019, it had 1.5 million insect specimens! This amazing collection is kept at the Institute for Research in Plant Biology (IRBV). This institute is located right on the grounds of the Montreal Botanical Garden.
Olympic History
The Montreal Botanical Garden even played a part in the 1976 Summer Olympics! It hosted the 20-kilometer walk for athletics events. It was also where the running part of the modern pentathlon event took place.
See also
In Spanish: Jardín botánico de Montreal para niños
