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.

Butchart Gardens at Christmas

Shortly before Christmas, we traveled to Vancouver Island to see Butchart Gardens in winter.  Anyone, when thinking of the gardens, clearly imagines them at their finest in late spring and early summer—awash with blossoms at every step.  But winter also offers a subtle beauty that is well worth the chilly stroll.

Originally known as “Benvenuto” (the Italian word for “welcome”), the grounds exude every facet of the meaning of that word even now.  Christmas decorations are placed throughout the property among the trees, gazebos and arched walkways.  Festive bows, garlands and oversized ornaments adorn the sculptures, doorways and railings.  Each turn brings a new surprise, and a smile, as the sun slips low across the horizon on this winter day to create splashes of light reflecting through greenery framed within marvelous shadows.

Walking through the grounds also leaves one alone periodically along the sidewalks that wind through the gardens.  It is in these moments that a visitor can imagine being the owner of such fine place, out for a stroll in a private garden of their own creation.  It is easy to see why the original owners, Jennie and Robert Butchart, spent from 1909 to 1939 involved in a labor of love that created this exotic place, culled from the remnants of an exhausted limestone quarry.

Our ending was hot chocolate and a gingerbread cookie in front of a stone hearth fireplace.  Nirvana…is achievable.