GPOD on the Road: Montreal Botanical Garden – Part 1

05.09.2024 - 07:29 / finegardening.com / GPOD Contributor

Hi GPODers!

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from frequent contributor and friend-of-the-blog, Cherry Ong. If you’re new to Garden Photo of the Day, you’ll want to check out her fabulous side garden dubbed the “Fern Fairway”: The Fern Fairway in Summer, Fall in the Fern Fairway, Winter at the Fern Fairway. Then explore some of her incredible wreaths, arrangements, and containers: Container Creativity in British Columbia, Container Crevice Garden, Wreath Making with Cherry, Make a DIY Christmas Wreath. Finally, tour across Canada via her many travels to incredible private and public gardens: Where’s Cherry? Tofino Botanical Gardens, GPOD on the Road: Garden Tour With Cherry, GPOD on the Road: Niagara-on-the-Lake, GPOD on the Road: Allan Gardens Conservatory.

In typical Cherry fashion, she has spent the summer traveling and visiting beautiful gardens that she so graciously shares with us. Today and tomorrow, she’s taking us to Montreal Botanical Garden and it’s serene Chinese Garden. First, a look at the special plantings in the Springtime Courtyard (Le Cour du Printemps), crafted with an ancient technique.

These are not bonsai!

This space, ringed with an undulating wall resembling a dragon’s back, is filled with penjings, miniature landscapes growing in containers. These dwarfed trees are the forerunner of Japanese bonsai, but they differ from bonsai mainly in that they represent nature in a realistic, non-idealized fashion. Their branches and roots are pruned to imitate the strength, hardiness and elegance of trees growing in the wild.

The Montreal Botanical Garden’s penjing collection consists mainly of 350 miniature trees donated to Montreal by the city of Shanghai to mark the Floralies Internationles held here