Past events
October 2025: Myths and legends
of plants
Around forty residents gathered in the Montreal West Town Hall music room for an engaging evening with horticulturist, lecturer, and Laidback Gardener blogger Julie Boudreau. With her trademark warmth and humour, Julie led the audience on a journey through the myths and legends rooted in the plant world—touching on everything from the origins of botanical names and Linnaeus’s early classifications to the symbolism of the Québec flag, ancient Greek lore, and even the love stories hidden in poplar trees. Blending science, superstition, and storytelling, she reminded us that plants have always inspired wonder—and that their stories are meant to be shared.
November 2025: How Your Garden
Came to Be: The Evolution of Plants
Dr. Christie Lovat guided us through the remarkable origin story of plants, from the first algae that ventured onto land to the flowering species that make up our gardens today. Tracing four major evolutionary leaps—mosses and ferns, towering seed plants, resilient gymnosperms, and finally the rise of angiosperms—she revealed how each chapter transformed life on Earth. With living fossils still at our feet and ingenious adaptations shaping every leaf and flower, the talk left us seeing our gardens as vibrant echoes of hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
