The Montreal Botanical Garden, with an area of ​​75 hectares, was founded in 1931 and opened to the public in 1936. There are 30 themed gardens on its territory: Japanese - with a tea pavilion, aquatic plants, medicinal plants, Chinese - the largest in the world outside of China, Alpine, English, poisonous garden plants, rhododendrons and azaleas, the First Nations Garden - dedicated to Canadian Indians, a lilac garden with 3,000 bushes, a rose garden, a Leslie Hancock garden, an arboretum, etc. There are also 10 exhibition greenhouses with 21,000 plant varieties.
In front of the entrance to the rose garden there is a sculpture of a lying lion, cast to decorate the first Lyon bridge in 1831 and donated to the garden by the mayor's office of this French city in 1992.
Squirrels, turtles, ducks and herons constantly live in the botanical garden. The Montreal Botanic Gardens is on the list of Historic Sites in Canada.