Following our food tour, which ended at 1 pm, we caught a 1:30 City bus, which stops behind our hotel, to Butchart Gardens. Although we have been at least 3 times before, it is always worth seeing. Since it is a city bus, it meanders through little burgs outside of Victoria and follows the coast north about 45 minutes. We find doing this tour on our own is very relaxing.
Butchart Gardens, which now covers 55 acres, was started in 1904 by Jennie Butchart to beautify the worked-out limestone quarry which had supplied her husband Robert’s nearby cement plant. They collected plants and ideas from their world travels and expanded the garden to include the Sunken, Japanese, Rose, Italian and Mediterranean gardens of today. Close to a million people visit each year and the family still operates it.
The garden is open year round but, of course, the flowers change. The admission was $27 and included a guide book of plants and when to expect them in bloom. The plants were not really unique to us — much of what we saw are the same landscape plants we use in Kentucky — begonias, snapdragons, asters, geraniums, marigolds, hydrangeas, etc. — but the real magic comes from the arrangement of plants throughout the park. Also, from the fact that I have never seen a dead plant in the 25+ years I have been visiting.
This is the iconic image of the Gardens, overlooking the Sunken Gardens.
From here you can take stairs or a sloped walkway down.
We chose a walkway down to the Ross Fountain, installed in 1964, which rises 70 ft. and provides a brief water choreography.
We enjoyed just wandering through this part of the park, admiring the different features.
The Rose Garden is always spectacular this time of year and includes a wide variety.
The path led us around to the Sturgeon Fountain.
We also toured the Japanese Garden, but it was so condensed that it was hard to photograph. We ended with the Italian Garden and the star pond.
The visitor center is in the background.
We caught the 4:15 city bus back to Victoria and relaxed from a very busy day. Then we went to dinner at Bard and Banker, named for noted Canadian poet Robert Service and for being in an old bank building.
We also listened to a guitarist there for awhile. A lovely ending to the day.
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