We entered at the entrance closest to the Insectarium and made a visit there first (see separate entry on the Insectarium). After, we wandered around the park and as expected, in November, most trees have lost their leaves, and flowering plants aren't exactly looking their best either. We managed to find the Chinese garden which would have looked great in any weather, what with its pagodas and lake. We had been walking around outside now for some time and needed some warmth. We hustled to the main exhibition greenhouses close to the main entrance. Ah, that was much better...lush greenery, full of life, and blissfully warm! This was divided into 10 parts and were laid out in a row and the entire lot could be traversed in a circular manner.

These 10 sections were:
The Arid Regiosn Conservatory full of cacti and succulents
The Begonias and Gesneriads Conservatory with lots of these brightly coloured flowers
The Economic Tropical Plants Conservatory, the one I consider most interesting, as I love to see how coffee and chocolate grow!
The Ferns Conservatory - yup, full of ferns and with an impressive water feature at the end
The Garden of Weedlessness a Chinese/Japanese themed exhibition with many bonsai plants
Hacienda, again, many cacti and succulents but this time with a Mexican theme. Oh, we had fun posing our Mexican friend next to a Mexican cactus!
The Main Exhibition Greenhouse
The Molson Hospitality Greenhouse, was next to the entrance and had many simple explanations of how plants lived
The Orchids and Aroids Conservatory - lots of gorgeous orchids and other plants now used as houseplants around the world
The Tropical Rainforests Conservatory - boy, was this one humid!

The greenhouses were impressive and I felt that just seeing these would have made the entrance fee worthwhile. We were unable to see the rest of the gardens by then as we had lingered for a long time in the greenhouses and it was time to go.

Overall, we must have seen only 1/5 of the entire botanic garden, but it was impressive. I would not mind returning again to see the rest of it...but in the spring!

Upon entering you then have a choice, head to the left or the right, we went to the left, as my main interest was the monastery, herb and fruits and veggie gardens. Unfortunately since our visit was in late October, most of the plants had been affected by frosts and freezes so many of the plants were dying or dead. Enough were still alive though to make it very educational and informative as my husband and I identified several plants that I have always wanted to see. After around an hour and a half of walking, the wind picked up, it grew colder and it began to snow very lightly. We decided enough walking outside as we were both freezing; it was time to thaw out a bit.

We headed to the insectarium where we were advised that admission is free upon paying to enter the botanical gardens. We walked through the collections of dead bugs pinned to display cases and live bugs and spiders. Honestly the size of the collection on display here is not truly impressive at least for adults, however I imagine for children this would be much more interesting than herb gardens. One thing that I thought was rather interesting was the beehive that was housed in clear glass so you could actually watch the bees at work. After watching the bees for a few moments we decided we had both heated up sufficiently to go back outside so we hurriedly walked towards one of the greenhouses and at that point began to take our time and just enjoy all the beautiful and colorful plants surrounding us. We identified plants that we had only heard about, as well as plants that we were familiar with. We relaxed to the sounds of waterfalls, the caress of the misty air on our faces and the smell of orchids and other growing things filling the air.

One important note, there are no ATMs anywhere in the park so bring extra cash, credit or debit cards. Plus a member of the gardening staff advised us that the best time to visit the herb, monastery, and fruit and veggie gardens is during mid August. Most of all be prepared to walk, as the Park is huge! There is a trolley that can take you just about anywhere in the gardens but then you would miss most of the exhibits!

For more information regarding the Montreal Botanical Gardens click on the following link: .

A sprawling complex, the gardens are the third largest in the world. With sections of roses, trees, food plants, Japanese gardens and even a butterfly house, the list of what to see is endless.

Next time I go back, I will definitely bring a blanket and picnic basket!