Spring at Butchart Gardens-Victoria BC

There are not enough words to describe how beautiful Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, can be in the spring.  Though we were probably a week or two early based upon the lengthy and cold winter we've experienced, the flowers were divine.  With this trip, we have experienced three of the four seasons in Victoria.  Now, without further delay, is a visual walk through Butchart Gardens:

 

Canada is 150 years old in 2017 and the gardens are over one hundred years old.  The entrance leads past the cafe (which has yummy food) and a sign that is decorated by season with flowers.

We were on Vancouver Island to celebrate Jim's daughter's fiftieth birthday.  She had never been to Butchart.  What a wonderful reason to go!  Plus it was sunny when we arrived.  A blessing for an outdoor attraction and the first sunny day we have seen in quite some time.  Divine intervention!

There is sort of a looping walk throughout the park.  The sidewalk winds from the entrance past beds of flowers like these pink, blue and white examples on the left, along a path that climbs up to a fir covered knoll overlooking the original limestone quarry that existed here before this became a garden.

There is a small log cabin room with a window that overlooks the quarry (below.)  It yields a commanding view of the gardens lining the walls and floor of the old digging grounds.

Now it is hard to imagine what the quarry must have looked like from the outlines you can still discern of it.

There were cherry trees in bloom, daffodils and tulips in abundance, and fountains to delight the child in all of us.  Everything in the garden seemed to be surging forth anew exhuding the sheer joy of life.  Who could not believe in the eternity of things in the face of such a display?    

 

Ponds evoked the feeling of looking at a Claude Monet painting.  A deer family (comprised of carefully pruned plants) seemed real while grazing upon the newly green grass below our path.

It would be possible to take a thousand photos on the first loop of the tour alone.  And yet there was more...  

This statue of a young woman in awe of what is before her is one of my favorites in the park.  What a view she has 365 days a year.  But who needs statues when there are water fountains and gazing balls to entrance you?  This adorable child could hardly be enticed to continue further along our path.  Within the glass mirror-like ball, we are reflected as we watch with her mother.

Pansies are a symbol of remembrance.  Do you suppose she will remember them or the ball?  I'll bet on the latter!  There is a Chinese dragon fountain and a Japanese Garden within Butchart Garden. Both are intriguing.  I believe my fascination is with the Japanese Garden as it winds down to the waterfront and a bay.  There is a new waterfall statue of a tiny dragon holding a glass ball that I'd like for my garden but I doubt they'd let me have it.

Finally, there are the Italian Gardens near the original home.  These were the start of the whole endeavor.  If I were a billionaire, I'd buy this place.  I'd still let the public come and visit, but I'd save one day a week for myself.  A day to wander through, and enjoy every special spot within the park, like the wonderful woman who had the vision to begin this place-one potted flower or plant at a time.  It proves that no matter how tiny, or how big you dream, one step at a time (or in this case one plant at a time) can make a difference for the millions that follow along behind you.