Jardin Botanique - Montreal, Quebec, Canada

On our gallivanting around in the "Nawth" (as opposed to the South) last week, we got quite a bit of Bonsai doing and looking done -- starting with Bill Valavanis' 30th annual (and last!) September get-together in Rochester, NY, and ending with a heretofore undreamed of bonsai adventure in Montreal. David Easterbrook, Curator of the bonsai collection at Jardin Bontanique in Montreal was one of the presenters at Bills' meeting.

We met him a few days later at the 1200-acre botanic garden in the city's outskirts. He gave us a quick look at the overall setup, then a tour of the three -- yes, THREE -- bonsai display areas. There is a large Japanese garden, a large Chinese compound, and a compound set aside for North American plants that has a modest cvollecting of North American natives. One day we're going back to do the entire setup justice.

To start, here's a brief look at the japanese garden and some of the bonsai.

The garden itself:



Here's David and Jackie looking out over the pond:



And some Koi:

A few of the trees:









This is an "Ume oak."

One more look at the garden:

Nice...I visited the Montreal Bonsai collection about 12 years ago. Of note, David Easterbrook will be the guest artist at the Carolina Bonsai Expo in Asheville in October.

Thanks for sharing Jim!!! Looks like a great place. I look forward to learning more from Mr. Easterbrook at the CBE.
John

Jim

Did you miss the tropical bonsai collection in the greenhouses?

Elroy

I saw some of it, but I don't do tropicals, so didn't spend much time or take any pics. They had some of them in the lobby at the entrance.

David Easterbrook is retiring as the curator at the garden next year. I think he told us he has about a thousand bonsai at his home and is looking forward to spending his time on those.

JimLewis wrote:I saw some of it, but I don't do tropicals, so didn't spend much time or take any pics. They had some of them in the lobby at the entrance.

David Easterbrook is retiring as the curator at the garden next year. I think he told us he has about a thousand bonsai at his home and is looking forward to spending his time on those.

1000 bonsai!!??? and I thought I had a problem.

I saw the Chinese collection there in 1987 on my honeymoon with spouse # "EX!" I didn't know about the collection until we went to the Botanical Garden. I used up all of the film (3 or four boxes of Kodak 110) on the trees. My "EX" didn't know I liked bonsai... until that day. I still love my bonsai! Montreal is a beautiful city! I would love to go back with Spouse # "Forever"!
Todd