Mosaiculture

Mosaiculture is a refined horticultural art that involves creating and mounting living artworks made primarily from plants with colorful foliage (generally annuals, and occasionally perennials). The colorful two- and three-dimensional drawings, designs, sculptures and reliefs thus created employ a wide variety of flora. This multifaceted and complex discipline, an ornamental art, draws on numerous practices: on sculpture for its structure and volume, on painting for its palette, and on horticulture in its use of plants in a living, constantly changing environment. Mosaiculture should be distinguished from topiary, which features mostly shrubs pruned to create different shapes.

Considered the world’s most prestigious competition of horticultural art, the 2013 edition of Mosaiculture is currently on display at Montreal Botanical Garden in Quebec, Canada. Mosaiculture originated in Montreal in 2000. It is now a prestigious international competition, staged every three years in a different city, with funding from governments and the private sector. Last time, it was held in Shanghai, before coming back to Montreal again.