Recently, Dear Husband and I paid a visit to Victoria, Canada, a lovely city that is going to inspire even more blog posts than this one. But I decided to start with Butchart Gardens, which is actually about 35 minutes away from Victoria, because this has been a stressful few months here in America, and I figured we could all use something tranquil and beautiful to distract us.
Butchart Gardens (which is always proceeded by “the” on the official website, but that sounds funny to me, and I’ve never heard anyone refer to it that way) is in the little town of Brentwood Bay, and just like Victoria, it can be found on the Southeast tip of gigantic Vancouver Island, on Canada’s West coast.
This is a privately owned garden that is open to the public, and judging from the continually packed parking lot, I’m betting that the place makes a tidy profit each year. And it does so despite the fact that it employs 50 full time gardeners, and many of the flowers are changed out for every season. (The well established trees remain a constant, of course.) I’m glad we went in the fall, because it gave me the chance to see the Autumn colors you don’t really see much of in Seattle. Too many evergreens around here. But I’d love to visit Butchart Gardens in the Winter, Spring, and Summer, too. The gardens welcome a million visitors annually.
The site is divided into several sections: the Sunken Garden, the Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Italian Garden and the Mediterranean Garden. If you follow the suggested route, you’ll go up a path and around the corner, and BOOM! You find yourself overlooking the Sunken Garden. The riot of color will almost hurt your eyes. It’s perhaps one of the most beautiful displays I’ve ever seen. I gasped when I went around that corner, and I heard many others do so as well.
The Sunken Garden is situated on what was once a limestone quarry. This quarry and the lands around it were owned by Robert and Jennie Butchart. They moved here from Ontario in 1904. Ms. Butchart looked at the quarry and could visualize a stunning garden, and she started making her dream a reality 120 years ago. From that humble quarry the project grew into what you can see today: 55 acres of gardens, with 26 greenhouses and 900 bedding plant varieties, and hundreds of trees, including sequoias.
I can’t say much about the Rose Garden, because there were no blooms in it at this time of year. I can imagine that it’s quite breathtaking when the time is right. I bet the smell of the various roses is intoxicating at that time.
My favorite section of the garden (although the Sunken Garden ran a close second) is the Japanese Garden. It was calming. People automatically spoke in hushed tones in this peaceful place. If I lived nearby, I can imagine getting a season pass, and when the weather was right, I’d bring a book and hide away in one of the many cozy nooks that you come across in this part of the garden. To me it felt like a library, if a library were composed of vegetation rather than books. I could easily lose a whole day in there. I didn’t want to leave.
The sound of burbling water nearly hypnotized me. My husband was kind enough to make this video of what they called a “Boar Scarer” which intrigued me. If I ever have trouble sleeping, I’ll play this video on a loop. I can’t explain this well, but it seemed like it was making a sound that one rarely hears outside of Japan. And as a bonus it made me think of my dear friend Mor, and that never fails to make me smile.
The Italian Garden was very manicured. It sits where the Butchart’s tennis court used to be. While I enjoy gardens of this type, I always feel as though I’m underdressed and trespassing. If the Japanese Garden embraced me, this one kind of made me feel as though I’d be thrown out at any minute.
The Mediterranean Garden was full of plants that thrive in Butchart Garden’s temperate climate. It was partially manicured, no doubt, but what delighted me most about it was that, at least on the day we visited, the place was full of hummingbirds. I wanted to dive into the dense shrubbery and commune with them. I’m afraid I didn’t take any good photos of this area. I was too busy enjoying the birds.
The entire venue was also sprinkled with fountains and statuary, and I do love public art. It also has a restaurant, a carousel, a visitor’s center and a wharf. Naturally, there is ample opportunity to purchase gifts, even in the form of seeds.
They host weddings, of course, and they have a large field where they have an annual fireworks display. There’s also a children’s pavilion, but we studiously avoided that. In addition, they host outdoor concerts, and night light events. And I’m sure their Christmas display is absolutely stunning.
The only thing that got me to leave this place was the stunning views of Vancouver Island that were just over the horizon. So many places to explore. So little time.
If you’re ever in that part of the world, Butchart Gardens should definitely not be missed. I can almost forgive people for being disgustingly rich when it results in places like this that are now open to the public. I would never say that to the Butchart family, of course. Actually, if I were to meet one of them, the burning question I’d ask is this: How on earth do you keep the deer from wandering in and eating all the plants?
My book about gratitude would be the perfect thing to read at Butchart Gardens! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
Leave a Reply