Living Sculptures at the Montreal Botanical Garden: Mosaiculture 2013

Summer 2013 brought a menagerie of living sculptures to the Montreal Botanical Garden: gorillas, lemurs, cranes, and more—crafted through mosaiculture, the art of installing pruned plants onto 2D and 3D forms. Fifty participants from over 20 countries created works along a 1¼-mile path, each using a set plant catalog to represent their culture.

Highlights

• The Man Who Planted Trees – Tribute to a shepherd who reforested a desolate land.
• Small Clownfish and Anemone (Okinawa) – Symbiosis with nature.
• All in a Row (Madagascar) – Ring-tailed lemurs, iconic and threatened.
• Hachiko, the Loyal Dog (Tokyo) – Selaginella kraussiana and welded metal honor the Akita who waited 10 years at a train station.
• Mother Earth – Planted mountains for hair, a deer on her outstretched hand.
• A True Story (Shanghai) – Towering red-crown crane honors Xu Xiu Juan's conservation work.
• Hands Up! (Borneo) – Lifelike orangutan of carex grasses hanging from a tree.
• Sunbath (Thailand) – Wild buffalo sculpture.
• Practically Family (Republic of Guinea) – Giant chimps amid banana plants.
• Fragile Frogs (Atlanta) – Gopher frog restoration tribute.
• Planting Plane Trees to Attract the Phoenix (Beijing) – Miniature begonias flash red on a phoenix inspired by Chinese legend.
• Gorillas at Risk (Uganda) – Virunga mountain gorilla conservation.

Bringing Mosaiculture Home

Large-scale mosaiculture requires strong plants, consistent irrigation, and sturdy structures—usually impractical for homes. But living-wall techniques offer a similar aesthetic. Garden designer Bill Thompson suggests: high-quality cactus potting mix (drains well, compacts nicely), succulents (compact, adaptable, colorful), small ferns and ivies for shade, plants in 2–4 inch pots, a strong planting module, and drip-through irrigation. Have fun—"it's like painting with plants." Choose plants suited to the light, prune periodically, and swap out overgrown specimens.