The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The Butchart Gardens, covering more than 22 hectares (55 acres), began from an idea Jennie Butchart had to beautify the worked-out limestone quarry which had supplied her husband Robert Palm Butchart’s nearby Portland cement plant; Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

“The Butchart Gardens is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia located near Victoria on Vancouver Island.  The gardens receive close to a million visitors each year. The gardens have been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.” – Wikipedia

 

Before we began our waling tour of the gardens, we stopped for a light lunch at the Dining Room Restaurant at The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

The Sunken Garden is part of the exhausted limestone quarry that has been beautifully transformed into a major attraction at The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

“When Robert and Jennie Butchart came to live at Tod Inlet on Vancouver Island they named their home ‘Benvenuto’ – Italian for “Welcome’.  Starting with sweet pea seeds and a rose bush, Jennie began a lifelong project to create a garden.  With great vision, she transformed the barren limestone quarry (excavated to supply the cement factory nearby).  Now, 22 hectares (55 acres) of breathtaking gardens on the 53 hectare (130 acres) estate are visited by close to a million people each year.  In 2004, during our 100^th anniversary, The Butchart Gardens, still family owned, was designated a Naitonal Histopric Site of Canada.” – brochure from The Butchart Gardens

 

At the far end of the Sunken Garden is the Ross Fountain, created and installed in 1964 for the Gardens’ 64th anniversary by Ian Ross, grandson of the Butcharts; the water rises 21 meters (70 feet); The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

In the Sunken Garden a path winds through beds of annuals, flowering trees and shrubs growing to the base of the towering walls, The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

Our intrepid explorer takes a ride on the bronze horse “Annabelle” located adjacent to the Children’s Pavilion and Rose Carousel, a menagerie carousel with 30 hand-carved wooden animals and two chariots; The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

In the Rose Garden many varieties of Hybrid Tea Roses are marked with the name, country of origin and year registered with the American Rose Society, The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

A beautiful specimen among many wonderful varieties of Hybrid Tea Roses in the Rose Garden at The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

A wooden Torii gate marks the entrance to the Japanese Garden at The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

A small Japanese rock garden and a brightly painted bridge over a small stream are typical elements found in the Japanese Garden at The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

A small flight of stairs leading from the Japanese Garden to the Star Pond and the Italian Garden, beyond, at The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

The cross-shaped pond in the Italian Garden is fed by a fountain depicting a child holding a fish, on the site of the former Butchart family’s tennis court; The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

An arched entrance to the Italian Garden frames the fountain depicting a child holding a fish, The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

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