Victoria, BC & Butchart Gardens

I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but we could not have ordered up more beautiful weather for today in Victoria, British Columbia. I had an excursion (my next to the last) to go to Butchart Gardens. This was my third time to visit the gardens (lucky me!) as we were there on another cruise in 2006 and later when Ronnie presented a paper in Vancouver in 2009. Since he had been before, he chose not to go but to do a walk around in Victoria. Victoria is a beautiful town with a population of about 40,000. The entire city is clean and beautiful. It has hosted 396 cruise ships this year.

I went today for the express purpose of photographing flowers. However, I was using a new lens that I'm very un-proficient with and the time of day we visited meant that the gardens were in full sun. Not a good combo, but I took tons so I'll share some of the better ones. There was no way to see all of the garden in the allotted 2 hours we had to visit.

 

the famous Empress Hotel (photo credit: Ronnie)

 

 

Victoria Harbor Ferry Water Ballet (photo credit: Ronnie)

I will say that I’ve had better luck in the past because I was using a camera with a telephoto lens which helped me get sharper photos with more blurred backgrounds – ideal for flower photography. Anyway, as they say “it is what it is” so I will share the ones I consider to be the best. The most exciting thing for me today was the field of wildflowers at the back of the garden. There were huge numbers of poppies, mostly red, white and pink and other wildflowers thrown in as well. They were in a huge field behind a wire fence but I was able to shoot through the wire fence so I took many of those. I love poppies! 

The gardens cover 55 acres with 900 bedding plant variations and 26 greenhouses. There are 6 different gardens – the Sunken Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Italian Garden and the Mediterranean Garden. They hire 600 full time workers in the summer, 200 in winter with 50 full time gardeners. The gardens host 2 million people each year and operates 365 days a year. The flowers are changed seasonally so they are beautiful the year around. They have been passed down through several generations. In the winter, there is ice skating and in the summer there is a fireworks show every Saturday night.

 

entrance to Butchart Garden

 

Sunken Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the history of Butchart Gardens from their website.

1904 Robert and Jennie Butchart moved to Vancouver Island to build a cement plant on a rich limestone deposit at Tod Inlet.

1912 As cement production exhausted the limestone deposits, Jennie envisioned a grand garden in its place and began transferring top soil by horse and cart. Little by little, the quarry blossomed into today’s Sunken Garden.

1929 Between 1906 and 1929, the Butcharts expanded The Gardens, designing the Japanese Garden on the seaside, the Italian Garden on their former tennis court and the fragrant, overflowing Rose Garden. (there are 250 varieties of roses in the gardens today)

1939 Grandson Ian Ross was gifted The Gardens on his 21st birthday. He transformed them into a world-renowned attraction, adding outdoor concerts,  night lighting in the summers and the Magic of Christmas in the winters.

1977 Great-grandson Christopher began producing a choreographed firework show every year. In 2009, his sister Robin (current owner of The Gardens) added the Children’s Pavilion and Menagerie Carousel.

2004 Two Totem Poles were carved in Classic Coast Salish style by Master Carvers Charles Elliot of the Tsartlip Nation and Doug La Fortune of Tsawout Band to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Butchart Gardens and in recognition of the rich cultural heritage provided by Indigenous People.

2023 Today The Butchart Gardens is a National Historic Site of Canada. You’ll find remnants of the original cement plant and millions of bedding plants in over 900 varieties.