What's Blooming?

Writing a blog about the Montreal Botanical Garden is a project that I’ve had in mind for some time. My idea is to provide a weekly posting on what’s currently in bloom in this world class garden, as well as cover events that take place throughout the year. I will also be including some of my poetry.

I write haiku and tanka, which are Japanese-inspired short poetry forms. Most people are familiar with haiku, but tanka (its five-line cousin) is still fairly unknown. I’ll provide some background on the history and aesthetics of both types of poetry as we go along.

So, camera in hand, on this early Sunday morning, I’m off to the Montreal Botanical Garden, which is just a metro ride away from my home in Verdun. I get off at Pie IX (pronounced “pee neuf”) Metro and walk up the hill past the Olympic Stadium to the front gates of the garden, located at the corner of Pie IX and Sherbrooke Streets. Tulips are up in the small beds on both sides of the gate. Several years ago I wrote a haiku about the tulips in these particular beds.

golden tulips
in the midday sun—
fields of flame

That was later in the season. For now, the tulips here are not yet in bloom. Further inside the garden, closer to the main building, tulips bloom in this year’s colour theme: bright red.

Heading past the fountain, which is of course not yet in operation, I spend a few moments admiring a magnolia.



In the exhibition garden, I found these lovely “Lenten Roses” (Heliebore oriental), which are a new flower for me. Googling them, I discover that they were chosen as the 2005 perennial plant of the year by the Perennial Plant Association and that they are considered one of the most attractive and longest-blooming of the shade perennials. The plants here are in white and purple.

On my walk through the garden, I see plenty of daffodils and patches of scilla. I’ve been admiring this small plant around the city for the past few weeks. I particularly like the way it can take over whole lawns with its electric blue. In the following photo, you can glimpse the scilla beneath the rich yellow of that other early bloomer, forsythia.

By the “Flowery Brook,” my attention is caught by another blue flower with the wonderful name, “Glory-of-the-snow.” After the long winter here in Montreal, anything growing and colourful is a cause for near religious fervour.

I walk through the Native Garden and smile at the still-coiled heads of the ferns.

I came this morning expecting a quiet, meditative walk in the garden, but pulsing latin music follows me into the Japanese Garden and then the Chinese Garden as well. It’s blasting from nearby Maisonneuve Park. I walk over to investigate and find out that today is the MS March of Hope. There are a lot of people registering and plenty of balloons and pre-walk entertainment. Their slogan is “Every Step Matters.”

Heading back into the garden, I notice the new children’s playground that they’ve built beside the Insectarium, which has these fun-looking stepping stones.

if my life
were just a series

of flower-shaped stepping stones

would I worry so much

about the next step?