Montreal Botanical Garden

The Montreal Botanical Garden is one of the largest and most important botanical gardens in the world — 75 hectares containing 22,000 plant species arranged in 30 thematic gardens and 10 exhibition greenhouses that together constitute one of the most comprehensive living plant collections outside the tropics. The garden was founded in 1931 during the Great Depression (a public works project that gave employment to thousands) and has grown into an institution that rivals Kew and the New York Botanical Garden.

The Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden are the showpieces. The Chinese Garden — the largest outside China at the time of its construction in 1991 — was built by artisans from Shanghai using traditional materials and techniques, and the result is a miniature landscape of pavilions, rockeries, and water features that transports you from Quebec to Suzhou in a single step through the moon gate. The Japanese Garden, designed in the contemplative style, uses raked gravel, bonsai, and precisely placed stones to create an atmosphere of meditative stillness that is remarkable given the 40,000-plant chaos surrounding it.

The autumn highlight is Gardens of Light (Jardins de lumière) — an evening event from September through October when the Chinese and Japanese gardens are illuminated by hundreds of handmade lanterns in an installation that combines horticultural design with traditional Chinese and Japanese lighting art. The event coincides with peak autumn colour, and the combination of lantern light, red maples, and the garden's architectural elements creates an evening experience that sells out weeks in advance.