par Bélanger, Diane

The Montreal Botanical Garden owesits existence to one man's determination. A priest known as BrotherMarie-Victorin (1885-1944), the eminentFrench-Canadian botanist and teacher, dedicated himself to promoting theimportance of scientific learning among his compatriots at a time when sciencewas little valued in traditional French-Canadian society. The Garden is one ofhis most lasting achievements. Designed by the visionary landscape architectHenry Teuscher, the Montreal Botanical Garden is sometimes referred to as a"northern wonder." The internationally renowned facility marries natural beautywith an educational vocation, as its founder intended. It is also one ofMontreal's major tourist attractions.

 

Article disponible en français : Jardin botanique de Montréal

A Vast Northern Garden

The75-hectare [185-acre] Montreal Botanical Garden is located in East-end Montrealon the site of a former novitiate school belonging to the Institute of theBrothers of the Christian Schools, the religious order of BrotherMarie-Victorin. The entrance is laid out like a French garden and leads to theArt Deco-style administration building constructed between 1932 and 1938.Interestingly, Architect Lucien Kéroack chose to ornament the building's facadewith four terracotta bas-reliefs by the sculptor Henri Hébert. The bas-reliefsillustrate the horticultural knowledge of North America's first peoples andtheir use of native plants.

Anotherwell-known feature of the Garden can be found at the main entrance, whereexotic tree species like the Kobus magnolia (Magnolia kobus) and the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) thrive at the northern limit of theirnatural range amidst annual flower arrangements showcasing the latestdevelopments in horticultural knowledge. Further on, ten exhibition greenhousesthat stay open all year round pay tribute to the plants of every continent.Admiring the fruit of a tropical carambola tree on a winter morning when it is-20^oC outside is part of what makes the Montreal Botanical Gardenexperience so unique. Every year, the displays of Quebec perennials, the superbrose garden, the thematic and water efficiency gardens and the temporaryexhibitions and numerous cultural activities attract millions of visitors.

 

A Botanical and Cultural Heritage

Thesize and scale of the Garden make it an invaluable cultural asset, both interms of the diversity of its natural and cultural attractions and its missionin promoting the scientific knowledge of our botanical heritage. Created in the1930s in the midst of the Great Depression, the Garden is a testament toQuebec's transformation into a modern society. It grew and developed in tandemwith key events in the province's history, notably the Second World War and thewave of internationalisation sparked by the Universal Exhibition of 1967.Thanks to the "ideal garden" program implemented by Henry Teuscher (thelandscape architect chosen by Marie-Victorin) the Montreal Botanical Garden hasdeveloped harmoniously over the years to reflect both the natural diversity ofQuebec and the cultural diversity of contemporary Montreal.

 

An Island Garden

Thedream of creating a botanical garden on Montreal Island's vast tracts of green spacefirst emerged in the 19th century among the city's English-speaking elite.Initial plans for a garden on Mont Royal fell victim to administrative redtape. Understandably, the creation of such a garden in Quebec's harsh climaterequired significant investments and a healthy dose of determination. In theend, it was Marie-Victorin, a humble member of Brothers of the ChristianSchools movement, who would see the dream through to reality, driven by hispassion for scientific research and his determination to awaken hiscontemporaries to the importance of scientific learning.

 

Marie-Victorin, a Man ofConviction

BrotherMarie-Victorin was born Conrad Kirouac in 1885. He entered the Order of theChristian Brothers, a religious community devoted to primary and secondaryeducation, when still a youngster. By age 16, he was teaching various subjectsin the Christian Brothers' schools. His early interest in sciences led him torealise that his French-speaking colleagues, with their penchant for theclassics and humanities, lagged far behind in the sciences. Spurred on by aworld changing rapidly before his eyes, Marie-Victorin was determined toreverse this trend and foster an interest in scientific advances and newlyemerging technical knowledge among French Canadians. He stopped teachingtheatre, and began to teach math.

Fragileof health, the frail young brother was often confined to the infirmary, libraryand garden. He became the assistant gardener at Collège de Saint-Jérôme, wherehe quickly realised his own ignorance and how little information was availableabout the plants of Quebec and about the natural sciences in general. It wasduring this period that his passion for botany was born. From this point on,Marie-Victorin set about exploring the province, collecting and studyingplants, and most importantly, publishing his findings. By 1910, he had begun tomake plans for a guide to the plants of Quebec, a project that finally came tofruition in 1935 with the publication of his classic work Flore Laurentienne, still a reference in the field today.Throughout these years, Marie-Victorin corresponded with leading naturalscientists in Canada, Europe and the United States.

Throughhis publications and his activities with the Young Naturalists Clubs,Marie-Victorin became something of a scientific celebrity. Althoughself-taught, he was appointed the first Chair of Botany in 1920 at the newlyestablished Université de Montréal. In 1923, he helped found ACFAS, the Association Canadienne-Française pourl'Avancement des Sciences [French Canadian Association for ScientificDevelopment]. In 1929, he represented the Université de Montreal at the annualmeeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in SouthAfrica. He took advantage of the opportunity to visit botanical gardens in the majorcities of Europe and Africa and came back convinced that Montreal had to have agarden of its own. So began a ten-year battle to bring his vision to life.

 

A Rocky Start

Marie-Victorin'splans for a garden could hardly have come at a worse time. Quebec was hit hardby the Great Depression triggered by the stock market crash of October 1929 andunemployment was rampant. Undeterred, Marie-Victorin penned newspaper articlesfor Le Devoir, an unwavering ally,and drew on the backing of the Associationdu Jardin Botanique de Montréal, founded in January of 1930. The City ofMontreal agreed to support the garden project, but progress was painfully slow.First, a portion of Maisonneuve Park was set aside for the future garden inMarch 1931. Then, in 1932 Marie-Victorin entered into correspondence with HenryTeuscher, a German botanist living in the United States, who was recommended tohim by the head of the New York Botanical Garden. With funding for the projecton hold, the two men wrote back and forth for four years, during which periodTeuscher drafted his Program for an IdealBotanical Garden. Finally, Marie-Victorin found the ally he needed in oneof his former students, Camilien Houde, who had recently been re-elected asmayor of Montreal. Writing to Mayor Houde in 1935, Marie-Victorin showed hiseloquence in stating his case as he evoked preparations for the 300thanniversary of the city in 1942: "You need to give a gift, a royal gift, to theCity, our city. But Montreal is Ville-Marie, a woman...and you certainly can'tgive her a storm sewer or a police station...It's obvious what you must do!Give her a corsage for her lapel. Fill her arms to overflowing with all theroses and lilies of the field."

 

Henry Teuscher, the Other Fatherof the Garden

HenryTeuscher arrived in Montreal in 1936 after being appointed superintendent andchief horticulturalist of the future Montreal Botanical Garden. The first sodwas cut on May 7^th, 1936, and in the fall, Teuscher hired 2,000unemployed men under the Quebec government's unemployment assistance program.For three years, the men worked to build the administration building andproduction greenhouses, put in roads and excavate the Garden's two lakes. By1939, the main thoroughfares were completed. With the outbreak of war, however,work slowed considerably. Henry Teuscher was even accused of Nazism, but hisname was cleared and he kept his position. Today, the German botanist isconsidered the other father of the Garden and specialists agree that the qualityof his plans and their consistent implementation explain the harmony andextraordinary beauty of the Garden.

 

The War Years

Despitethe challenges, Marie-Victorin never wavered in his commitment to youtheducation, pursuing his pedagogical mission by creating a horticultural schooland the Young Gardeners program. As director of the Institute of Botany at theUniversité de Montréal, Marie-Victorin spearheaded efforts to fostercollaboration between the Institute and the Garden in 1943 with respect toresearch and public education. Sadly, Marie-Victorin died on July 15^th,1944, from injuries he sustained in a car accident. Upon his death, tributesflooded in from far and wide acknowledging the immense scientific, cultural andsocial contributions of this central figure in the modernisation of Quebecsociety.

 

A New Generation

Everas a teacher, Marie-Victorin had groomed his successors well. Jules Brunel, hisfirst student, stepped in to lead the Institute of Botany and Jacques Rousseau,his right-hand man, became director of the Garden. Rousseau had beenMarie-Victorin's steadfast companion in the many battles he had waged for theGarden. A brilliant scientist in his own right, and the secretary of ACFAS,Rousseau contributed significantly to fostering the Garden's scientificvocation, notably through his extensive exploration and fieldwork across theprovince. He also oversaw the construction of the exhibition greenhouses, whichallowed the Garden to operate year round.

 

Pierre Bourque, the Creator

TheGarden went into something of a decline in the 1960s. Montrealers were absorbedby other projects like the 1967 Universal Exhibition. In the end, it was Parcdes Îles at Expo 67 that ended up providing fresh leadership for the Garden inthe person of Pierre Bourque. Initially hired as section manager of the outdoorgardens, he took on the challenge of revitalising the Garden with his colleagueÉmile Jacqmain, the Garden superintendent. Bourque had his students at theUniversité de Montréal's School of Landscape Architecture draw up plans for newgardens, including the Flowery Brook and the Rose Garden. Numerous otherinitiatives also sprang from his fertile imagination.

 

The Garden Goes International

PierreBourque was especially active at the international level, notably as theorganiser of the first International Floralies Fair held in North America in1980. This horticultural exhibition introduced the general public to Japanese bonsai and Chinese penjing, and the acquisition of major oriental collections pavedthe way for the creation of two remarkable Asian gardens under the leadershipof Bourque, who became director of the Botanical Garden in 1980.

 

The Japanese Garden

Thedesign of the Japanese Garden was entrusted to renowned landscape architect KenNakagima, who had worked on an initial version of the project in 1967. Thegarden was finally completed two decades later, in 1988. Despite itscontemporary design, the garden meets the fundamental criterion of alltraditional Japanese gardens: harmony. Water, stone and plants are combined tocreate a sense of inner peace. The garden posed major challenges to the designteam, notably in choosing plants equivalent to ones used in Japan, but adaptedto Montreal's climate. The choice of stone, another crucial element in Japanesegarden design, also took a great deal of time and research. The architecteventually settled on a green-coloured stone from the Thetford Mines region.The stone provides a framework for the plants and a foundation for the garden'swaterfall and streams, with their Koi carp, called "living flowers" by theJapanese.

 

The Chinese Garden

TheChinese Garden opened in 1991 and is the largest garden of its kind outsideChina. It is the result of a joint venture with Montreal's twin city, Shanghai.Taking inspiration from the private gardens of the Ming Dynasty (14th to 19thcentury), Chinese architect Le Weizhong created an asymmetrical garden thatplays on the contrasts between yin and yang. Officially named Meng hu, or Dream Lake Garden, itnumbers seven pavilions, including the central Friendship Hall (Qinyi tang). Feature plants in the garden include the tree peonies mentionedby Italian explorer Marco Polo in the 13th century as well as lotuses, alsoknown as "Buddha flowers." Every fall, the spectacular "Magic of Lanterns"event brings the garden to light with the flickering silhouettes of dragons,fairies, and other mythical creatures.

 

The First Nations Garden

TheFirst Nations Garden showcases native North American plants and the specialbonds between aboriginal peoples and the plant world. The garden is dividedinto three sections featuring plants of importance for Iroquoians, Algonquinsand Inuit. In fact, a garden of "Indian" medicinal plants was included in theinitial garden plans drawn up by Brother Marie-Victorin and Henry Teuscher. TheFirst Nations Garden opened in 2001 on the occasion of the 300th anniversary ofthe Great Peace of Montreal signed in August of 1701.

 

Conclusion

TheMontreal Botanical Garden is a constant source of wonder thanks to itscollection of over 22,000 species and varieties of plants, ten exhibitiongreenhouses and thirty-odd theme gardens. Some of them are more low-key, likethe Leslie Hancock Garden that lies hidden behind a curtain of evergreens andwhich is at its finest in May when the rhododendrons bloom. Others like theChinese Garden are major attractions. The sheer size of the Botanical Garden,along with its numerous exhibitions and activities and its research team, makeit one of the biggest and most beautiful botanical gardens in the world.

 

Diane Bélanger
Historian

 

BIBILOGRAPHY

Bouchard,André and Francine Hoffman Le Jardinbotanique de Montréal. Esquisse d'une histoire, Montréal, Éditions Fides,1998, 111 pp.

Couture, Pierre, Marie-Victorin, Le botaniste patriote, Montréal, XYZ éditeur, 1996,215 pp.

Couture,Pierre and Camille Laverdière, JacquesRousseau. La science des livres et des voyages, Montréal, XYZ éditeur,2000, 175 pp.

Desrochers,Jacques, Étude historique et analysepatrimoniale du Jardin botanique de Montréal, Montréal, Ministère de laCulture et des Communications, Direction régionale de Montréal, July 1995, 2v.

Hoffman,Francine, « Henry Teuscher, un homme et des jardins », Quatre-temps, La revue desamis du Jardin botanique de Montréal, vol. 23, no. 3, September 1999, pp.48-49.

Lincourt,Jean-Jacques, Jardin botanique deMontréal, Collection Les guides des jardins du Québec, Montréal, ÉditionsFides, 2001, 111 pp.

Teuscher,Henry, «Programme d'un jardin botanique idéal », Mémoires du Jardin botanique de Montréal, Le Jardin botanique deMontréal, No. 1, 1940, 34 pp.

 

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