Montreal's Disney-like sculpture garden is in full bloom and it's free to visit

Summer in Montreal brings us no shortage of things to do. But if you’re looking for a healthy dose of nature without leaving the city or spending a dime, there’s a spot on Île Notre-Dame that’s hitting its peak right about now.

The Mosaïcultures at the Jardins des Floralies are open all year, but they save their best for the warm months. From May through September, close to half a million flowers and plants come into bloom, turning the Parc Jean-Drapeau gardens into some of the most striking living art anywhere in Montreal. And right now, at the tail end of June, things are really starting to pop.

The one everyone comes for is Mother Earth, an 11-metre figure of a woman with greenery cascading from her head like hair and a waterfall pouring from her outstretched arm. Stand in front of her and it’s hard not to feel like you’ve stepped straight into a scene from Moana.

She’s something of a celebrity in the mosaiculture world too, having first wowed crowds at the 2013 Mosaïcultures internationales de Montréal, where she took home the Grand Prix Public Award along with a handful of other international honours before earning a permanent home on the island last year.

Not far off is The Man Who Planted Trees, built from more than 100,000 plants.

The natural sculpture is a nod to Frédéric Back’s Oscar-winning 1988 animated short of the same name, depicting Elzéard Bouffier, the shepherd who devoted his life to planting trees across a stretch of barren land.

Then there’s The Six Pairs of YY, a set of abstract human silhouettes scattered across both Île Sainte-Hélène and Île Notre-Dame.

They take their inspiration from Parc Jean-Drapeau’s logo and the spirit of Expo 67, and as a bonus, they make for handy landmarks when you’re finding your way around the park.

The sculptures themselves are free to visit every single day, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., right through the end of the year, so there’s no wrong time to drop by. But if you want to catch them at their most impressive, with everything in full colour, the next few months are the ideal window.