Monastery Garden

Outdoor garden

Burning bush (Dictamnus albus) before the gate to the Monastery Garden

Photo: Jardin botanique de Montréal (Michel Tremblay)

Onglets

Description

This garden, with its central well surrounded by symmetrical beds, is inspired by monks' gardens from medieval times. It displays a selection of aromatic, medicinal, vegetable, dye and textile plants.

Monastic gardens conducive to meditation

Starting in the 7th century, gardens became an important part of monastery life. Next to the flower gardens, where monks would go to relax and meditate, would be useful plant gardens: vegetable garden, the orchard and the medicinal plant garden. Square or rectangular enclosures, with beds neatly marked off and aligned, symbolize the ideal of order in opposition to the chaos of the outside world.

In the centre of the garden, a fountain or well evokes the purifying power of baptism and is used to water the plants.

Created

1940

Taxa

nearly 70

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

Did you know?

In 812, Charlemagne recommended 90 types of vegetables, aromatic herbs, medicinal plants and fruit trees in his Capitulary de Villis. Many of these species were cultivated in monastic gardens at the time. Medicinal plants or "simples" were the particular realm of physician monks, who developed a vast pharmacopoeia in the Middle Ages.

Monasteries grew several gardens, each for a different purpose. The simples garden was probably the most important, because it mainly provided remedies for the infirmary.

From a physic garden to a botanical garden

In the 16th century, physic gardens, where medicinal plants were grown, were transformed as European explorers brought plants home from around the globe. In a way, this was the start of today's botanical gardens.

Best time to visit

Spring until fall

Menu header en

Languages

Space for life

About Us

Menu header Billetterie en

Global menu

Space for Life on social media

Explore the splendours of the sky

Monthly Sky

Support the Space for Life

Montréal Space for Life Foundation

Subscribe to the Naturally curious newsletter

School newsletter

Our institutions’ expertise

Research and conservation at Space for Life

Monastery Garden

Onglets

Monastic gardens conducive to meditation

Created

Taxa

Did you know?

From a physic garden to a botanical garden

Best time to visit

Add this

Gardens and greenhouses

Footer - Column 1

Footer - Column 2

Footer - Column 3

Footer - Column 4

Bloc menu © All rights reserved, Ville de Montréal