Montreal Botanical Garden

Begonias, Bromeliads, Cacti, Toxic Plants, Medical Plants, Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden, Alpine Garden, Arboretum, First Nations Garden, Peace Garden, Monastery Garden, Perennials.....  Leave lots of time to visit the Montreal Botanical Gardens.  And do wear comfortable walking shoes. This place not only has a lot of different gardens, but they are huge,  in 190 acres with lots of paths to follow. And you have 10 exhibition greenhouses, 22,000 plant species and cultivars, and more than 20 themed gardens. And if you manage to get through all that, you can visit the Insectarium.  But there are also lots of places to sit for a rest and,when we were there, there were various artists playing in different places.

We spent the first hour in the greenhouses enjoying extensive collections of begonias, bromeliads, cacti, and tropical plants. I was surprised that they did not have a very large collection of orchids. But then I found I must have missed their orchid collection. And other gardens and collections. So I'll have to go back.

One of hundreds of amazing bromeliads

In the formal area

The textures and colors were amazing and still very lush, even this late in the season

Water features and hardscape added to the beauty

The colors were mostly bold and vibrant

I loved the play of textures and the bright colors

View of the Clock Pond - where time stands still

A hot border against a dark grassy backgrouond

Other areas were more natural and soothing - Montreal Tower is in background

The Lion, de la Feuillee, a gift from Lyons, France

Arch at the entrance to the Rose Garden

Pink water lotus and red hibiscus in the Chinese Garden

The Chinese Garden was getting it's luminaries for the September-October Gardens of Light

More Luminaries

This is what the scene will look like when the luminaries are lit in September-October - from the Museum's site

Koi in the Japanese Garden

Water feature and lantern in the Japanese Garden

Dramatic garden in front of the restaurant

Some of the live bugs in the Insectarium

Amusing diorama in the  Insectorium

We also managed to walk the short distance to the Montreal Tower, the highest in the world and ride the funicular to the top for amazing views.

One of the 360 degree views we had from the tower

I took over 600 pictures and edited over 100 of them.  For the rest of the story check my Flickr album.  (I'm slowly getting titles on them.)