Shrub Garden

Outdoor garden

Onglets

Description

Located in the western part of the Jardin botanique near the large ponds, the Shrub Garden, also called the Fruticetum, is a collection of shrubs and small trees.

This attractive garden features a wide variety of species and cultivars, along with climbers, topiaries and dwarf specimens.

From spring on, the flowers appear one after another until the first frosts, which usually occur in early November in Montréal.

A reinvented garden

In the early 2000s, the layout of the Shrub Garden was reworked. The plants are now arranged according to their esthetic qualities, and no longer merely systematically according to their taxonomy.

A notable feature of the garden is the rock garden that surrounds the large pond in the middle. Small shrubs and clematis line the raised beds, lending the garden a certain three-dimensional quality.

Created

1939

Area

25,000 m²

Taxa

approximately 2,500

Map

Shade garden

Flowery Brook and Lilacs

Frédéric Back Tree Pavilion

Aquatic Garden

Reception Gardens

Peace Garden

Courtyard of the Senses

Chinese Garden

Youth Gardens

Alpine Garden

Japanese Garden

Leslie Hancock Garden

Shrub Garden

Toxic plants
Medicinal plants
Monastery Garden
Québec Corner

Garden of Innovations

Food Garden

Perennial Garden

Arboretum

Rose Garden

First Nations Garden

Explore

Worth exploring

The Shrub Garden is home to over 1,500 species and cultivars. With an area of 2.6 hectares, it is the second-largest garden in the Jardin botanique. Its collection of magnolias includes nearly a hundred taxa, including about thirty yellow-flowering magnolias. There is also a Magnolia zenii, a cultivated species that is seriously threatened in the wild.

This garden also features a collection of rock garden shrubs, including some willows and dwarf conifers.

The clematis collection makes a colourful splash with some 150 cultivars and species scattered throughout the garden beds. They are in flower from May to October.

History

A shrub paradise

The Shrub Garden was created in 1938. Historically, shrub species were grown in the Arboretum and cultivars in the Shrub Garden. Today, however, there are shrub species and cultivars are now found in both locations.

For a long time, the collection was presented on a taxonomic basis, meaning that the shrubs were grouped by genus and family. While that approach is very popular with specialists, it tends to hold less interest for the general public. That is why, for the past few years, we have gradually rearranged the shrubs according to esthetic criteria in order to combine the best of both worlds: the rigour of botany and the beauty of landscaping.

In 2013, a grassy portion of the garden was replaced with a pond surmounted by a walkway. Visitors can climb to the top for an unobstructed view of the Arboretum’s southern section.

Did you know?

This garden has one of the Jardin botanique’s oldest collection plants: Fontanesia phillyreoides, subspecies fortunei. This shrub arrived here from the New York Botanical Garden as a seed on June 1, 1936.

That doesn’t make it the oldest plant on-site, however, as some trees that stood here even before the creation of the Jardin botanique have been preserved. One example is the large American elm located next to the parking lot, thought to date back to 1885.

Best time to visit

April, summer and fall

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Shrub Garden

Onglets

A reinvented garden

Created

Area

Taxa

Worth exploring

History

A shrub paradise

Did you know?

Best time to visit

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Gardens and greenhouses

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