Arboretum

The tree in all its aspects

In 2013, the Jardin botanique opened a new walking trail in the heart of the Arboretum. Under the theme of A Tree Is a Living Being, this surprising trail explores the various aspects of trees, including their biology and vital functions, as well as the different species and their characteristics. To share this information with visitors and raise their awareness of the importance of these great plants, unusual interpretive panels punctuate the trail. Visitors walking through the Arboretum can choose their own itinerary.

Whatever the season, it is a stimulating and novel way to discover this enchanting place and appreciate the invaluable contribution trees make to our biodiversity and quality of life.

The flowering crabapples

The Jardin botanique de Montréal's flowering crabapple (Malus spp.) collection allows visitors to enjoy the impression that they are strolling through an orchard.

In addition to displaying a large number of mature trees, the collection also allows gardening enthusiasts to compare hundreds of specimens. Growing alongside botanical species are many different cultivars and hybrids, each with special characteristics, from their blooms to their leaves, fruit, shape and growth habits.

In addition to the site's esthetic and educational qualities, the collection's fruit attracts a wide variety of birds that come there to feed and nest. There are some 150 crabapples in the collection, representing several dozen cultivars and hybrids and about 15 botanical species.

The lilacs

What can be more pleasant than a stroll through a lilac garden on a fine day at the end of May! Take a whiff of the gentle fragrance and admire the various forms and colours of the panicles. It consists of 20 species and close to 200 cultivars, making it highly representative of the genus Syringa. Most of the shrubs are planted on a gentle slope near the Flowery Brook and continue northward up to the pond's edge.