★ Nature & Botany
Quebec's botanical gardens and greenhouses
In a city carved from stone and wood, Quebec's botanical gardens and greenhouses offer oases of greenery and color. Refuges where nature reclaims its rights, in all seasons.
Nature in the city
Green in the urban fabric
Quebec has the rare distinction of being a city where nature is omnipresent: the river, the forest a few kilometers away, historic parks, and gardens that dot Old Quebec.
A botanical garden is not just a beautiful place to walk your dog. It is a living laboratory, a biodiversity conservatory, and a constant invitation to slow down and observe the plant world.
- Quebec and its region have several botanical gardens, municipal gardens, and private botanical collections open to the public.
- The Maizerets Estate, City Hall gardens, and the historic Plains parks offer multiple green spaces in the heart of the city.
- Île d'Orléans is often considered Quebec's garden: orchards, strawberry fields, vegetable gardens, and vineyards coexist in an exceptional pastoral landscape.
- Several urban agriculture and community garden initiatives have transformed some Quebec neighborhoods into vibrant and productive green spaces.
The gardens
Must-see botanical spaces
These gardens are destinations in themselves. Each has its own personality, unique plant collections, and highlights depending on the seasons.
Roger-Van den Hende Garden
The Laval University botanical garden is one of the most important in Quebec. More than 2,000 plant species are cultivated there, from alpine plants to aquatic plants and medicinal herbs.
Maizerets Estate
A 27-hectare natural park in the heart of Quebec, featuring an exceptional arboretum, wetlands, and a botanical garden open year-round. A green breath in the dense city.
Governors' Gardens
Nestled between Château Frontenac and the Dufferin terrace, these historic gardens offer a walk in the heart of Old Quebec with a breathtaking view of the river and the lower town.
Gardens and orchards of the Island
Île-d'Orléans offers a unique agricultural and botanical panorama: century-old apple trees, flowering strawberry plants, organic producers' vegetable gardens. An immersion in the nourishing landscape of historic Quebec.
Greenhouses & Interiors
Botany even in winter
Quebec winters are long. Botanical greenhouses are precious refuges, tropical spaces that remind us that another plant world exists, far from the snowstorms.
Tropical greenhouse of Laval University
An impressive tropical greenhouse housing plants from all over the world: giant fig trees, orchids, bromeliads, palms. A total change of scenery just a few kilometers from Old Quebec.
Succulent and cactus collections
Private and public collections of cacti and succulents testify to the fascination of Quebec botanists with plant life in its most extreme and strange forms.
Medicinal plant gardens
Several gardens and herbalists in the Quebec region cultivate collections of local and imported medicinal plants. Educational spaces that renew the relationship between medicine and nature.
Botany & Seasons
The garden through the four seasons
Gardening in Quebec is an intensely seasonal practice. The short beautiful season pushes gardeners to remarkable creative intensity, and the results are always spectacular.
- Spring: the explosion of life after the months of frost. The first shoots, bulbs breaking through the still-present snow, fruit trees in bloom. A unique rebirth spectacle in the Nordic world.
- Summer: the abundance of vegetation. The gardens overflow: roses, peonies, dahlias, colorful annuals. The farmers' markets are full of garden vegetables. The river and the islands don their green coat.
- Autumn: the most beautiful season botanically. The deciduous trees take on fiery colors: red, orange, yellow, purple. The orchards deliver their last apples. The gardens prepare for winter in a melancholic ballet.
- Winter: the winter garden has its own beauties. The silhouettes of trees against the white sky, the snow outlining every branch, the dried fruits that persist on the branches: a minimalist and profound aesthetic.
Edible plants
From garden to plate
Edible botany is booming in Quebec. From aromatic herbs to edible flowers, the city’s chefs and baristas draw from gardens to enrich their creations.
Local aromatic herbs
Savory, chervil, sorrel, lemon balm: the aromatic herbs of the Quebec garden flavor restaurant plates and café platters. A direct link between the vegetable garden and the counter.
Edible flowers
Nasturtiums, borage, violets, zucchini flowers: edible flowers color Quebec plates with a lightness and delicacy found only in the garden, in season.
Edible wild plants
The forests and wastelands around Quebec are full of edible wild plants: wild garlic, fiddleheads, small fruits, mushrooms. A guided harvest reveals an extraordinary pantry.
Exceptional gardens
The most remarkable botanical spaces for lovers of flora and landscape.
Historic gardens of Old Quebec
The gardens of convents, seminaries, and historic institutions of Old Quebec house century-old plant collections. Discreet spaces, often closed to the public, some of which open during annual open house days.
Private gardens of Charlevoix
Some estates in Charlevoix open their private gardens in summer. These personal creations, often developed over several decades, reflect an intimate and passionate relationship with the territory and local flora.
After the garden, the coffee
After a walk in the Old Quebec gardens or a botanical visit to Laval University, Carrera Café welcomes you for a well-deserved break. An espresso that smells of warm wood, a platter that extends the flavors of the terroir. The natural circle is complete.
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