Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

Beauty of Butchart Gardens

Our last day in Victoria was reserved for a visit to a very famous garden.  Butchart Gardens is the place to go for visitors to Victoria.

Years ago, my in-laws took me and my husband, as a college graduation gift, to Seattle and Victoria.  The year was 1998, and I was finishing up the last semester of my horticulture degree.

Flush with my new knowledge of plants and horticultural practices, I was especially looking forward to visiting this beautiful garden. Fast forward 17 years later, I was excited to go back.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens
My mother and fellow travel companion

My mother and fellow travel companion.

Immediately upon leaving the parking lot, we were faced with fragrant, yellow wisteria that draped over an arbor.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

Walking a few steps further, was another splash of color with anemone flowers in pinks, purples and white.

I hadn’t even gone through the entrance and I had already taken a number of pictures – it was going to be a veritable photographic feast!

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

Like most areas in Victoria, colorful hanging baskets could be seen all over the garden.

Butchart Gardens are over 100 years old and were created by the Butchart family.  Almost one million visitors come to visit this special place, which sits about 30 minutes outside of Victoria.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

Today, I’d like to share with you some of my favorite areas in the garden.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

Garden art is tastefully spread throughout the garden, usually in the form of animals.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens
Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens
Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

One of my favorite color combinations is the bright green, spiky foliage of iris and its vibrant, purple flowers.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

One of the many things that I liked was that the trash receptacles had plants growing on top.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

I really think that this was a great idea.  Imagine trash cans acting as the base for plants that add beauty. I love it!

Here are a couple more…

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens
Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

The garden is separated into several smaller gardens. My favorite is the Sunken Garden.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

This spectacular garden was created in a former quarry.

A long stairway leads to the bottom of the garden and winding paths invite your to explore more.  

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens
Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

It was interesting to watch the people exclaim over the beauty of the gardens many were from other countries including Australia, China, Great Britain, Japan and Spain plus the good old U.S.A.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

Because I had visited the gardens before, I didn’t feel as if I had to hurry in order to be able to see everything.  Today, I decided to walk slowly through my favorite parts.  As a result, I spent most of my time in the Sunken Garden.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens
Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens
Sunken Garden

At the end of the Sunken Garden is a lake with a ‘dancing’ fountain.

Sunken Garden
Sunken Garden

Different variations of spray patterns made onlookers stop for a few minutes to enjoy the dancing waters.

After climbing out of the Sunken Garden, I strolled through other areas of the garden on my way to the Rose Garden.  

Sunken Garden
Sunken Garden
 crab apple trees.

Blankets of flowers surround, what I believe are crab apple trees.

black bearded iris

Love the black bearded iris, don’t you?

Brightly-colored dahlia.

Brightly-colored dahlia.

Clematis

Clematis growing up on an old stump.

Himalayan blue poppy

There is one flower in the Butchart Gardens that is a favorite of many.  This is the Himalayan blue poppy.

vivid blue flowers

You can find them scattered throughout the gardens and their vivid blue flowers attract everyone’s attention.

vivid blue flowers

They aren’t easy to grow.  To get them to germinate, you need to place the seeds in a moist paper towel and put in a Ziploc bag. Then you place the bag with the paper towel and seeds and stick in the refrigerator (in the vegetable crisper) for 4 weeks before planting.

There are blue poppy seeds available in the and I bought two packages to try to grow them in my own garden.  

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

There are several water features scattered throughout the gardens and I liked this one with the three fish, encircled with colorful anemone flowers.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

The Japanese Garden is not to be missed.  I love the varying shades of green and contrasting textures.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

As you can imagine, it takes a lot of work to take care of many garden spaces within Butchart Gardens.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

Watching these young girls working, planting new annual flowers, reminded me of the years spent as a horticulturist on golf courses.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

These are but a select few of the 319 photos I took of these truly stunning gardens.

I hope you enjoyed them!

Before leaving Butchart Gardens, a visit to this special place isn’t complete without rubbing the nose of the ‘mascot’.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

This is ‘Tacca’, which is a bronze replica of a wild boar – the original was created in 1620 in Italy. ‘Taco’ is named for the sculptor who made the original.

Road Trip Day 7: The Beauty of Butchart Gardens

It is said that if you rub his snout, you will have good luck.  So, millions of visitors have rubbed Tacca’s snout over the years.

After leaving the gardens, we drove onto get on the ferry to Vancouver, where we will embark on the next adventure of our trip.

More to come tomorrow!

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
5 replies
  1. FlowerLady Lorraine
    FlowerLady Lorraine says:

    I've seen and read about this garden online before. Your photos are wonderful and make me want to see more, so I do hope you will do another post of these lovely gardens, once you're back home and rested.

    Thank you for taking the time to share your wonderful trip.

    FlowerLady

  2. Helen
    Helen says:

    What a surprise to see “Tacca.” We have that exact same bronze statue in our city. It’s on the campus of the University of Arkansas. It’s our Razorback mascot. I never knew it was a replica. I never knew he was Italian. And, I’ve never rubbed his snout.
    Hmmm… Maybe next time I happen do be on campus, maybe I will!

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