Montreal Botanical Garden - Amazing Living Sculptures

With more than 190 acres of gardens, greenhouses and exhibition spaces, the Montreal Botanical Gardens is one of the largest in the world, and arguably one of the most beautiful. It’s filled to the brim with a number of living plant sculptures, serving as an amazing art gallery made entirely of nature.

The Gardens began as a collaboration between botanist Brother Marie-Victorin and horticulturist Henry Teuscher (sidenote: the difference between botany and horticulture is definitely not something I just had to google) in the ’20s.

Against all odds, construction continued through the height of the Great Depression, and starting in the ’70s, the Gardens also became a major centre for scientific research and conservation efforts.

Today, the Montreal Botanical Gardens calls itself “espace pour la vie” (a space for life), and it certainly lives up to that title with ten exhibition greenhouses, 20 thematics gardens (including a poisonous plant garden, and a collection of “cultural gardens” dedicated to Chinese, Japanese and First Nations aesthetic design), an insectarium, arboretum and more than 22,000 plant species in total.

Visitors to the gardens can go butterfly or bird-watching, take in historical exhibits or visit the planetarium – it’s the perfect place for city slickers to enjoy nature without actually leaving the city.