Not all blooms in gardens are plants. Sometimes, they’re lanterns — like those in “Gardens of Light”, on display through November 4, 2012, in the Chinese and Japanese gardens of the Montréal Botanical Garden, 4101 rue Sherbrooke Est, Montréal, Québec, Canada (map)

The 20th edition of The Magic of Lanterns in the Chinese Garden, entitled The Celestial Banquet, features hundreds of silk lanterns in shapes and colors that create a fairy-like atmosphere in which mythical characters such as Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, sits beside the laughing Buddha, the Goddess of Compassion and the Jade Emperor.

This year, for the first time, the Japanese Garden also dresses up for the occasion. A subtle light show brings out the plants’ autumn colors and creates a beautiful and calm setting.

(Photo by Michel Tremblay, courtesy of Montréal Botanical Garden)