ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Butchart Gardens

Updated on January 3, 2015

Butchart Gardens - Victoria's Best Loved Garden

I love the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC. If I could live anywhere in the world Victoria would be high on my shortlist. How I wish I were there in the warmth of a Vancouver Island Summer! I am not generally a very gardeny or flowery kind of person - generally I am more of a boat, forest, mountain kind of girl - but having entered the Butchart Gardens I was very loathe to leave. Had my camera not been digital, the processing would have cost a fortune.

Whenever I get to BC to visit with friends, Victoria is on my schedule and I have been back several times to visit! If you have the good fortune to visit British Columbia and Vancouver Island, this Garden is truly worth an hour or two of your time at least. For the time being though, here are some pictures of the Butchart Gardens that I hope you will enjoy!

All images, including intro, are my own photos taken on a visit to Victoria which inspired some music too!

Reclaiming the Limestone Quarry

The Sunken Garden

When I visited, I was interested to hear how the gardens were begun. The Butchart Gardens began when Canadian businessman Robert Pim Butchart began quarrying limestone and manufacturing Portland cement at Tod Inlet Vancouver Island in 1904.


He and his family established their home there. His wife Jennie was upset by the bleak pit left by the quarried limestone and set about reclaiming the land. She ordered topsoil from nearby farmers, had it brought in by horse and cart and lined the floor of the abandoned limestone quarry at Tod Inlet. This became the Sunken Garden.

Chimney Sentinel at the Butchart Gardens

Signals the End and a New Beginning

The Tod Inlet plant stopped manufacturing cement in 1916, but continued to make tiles and flower pots as late as 1950.


The only surviving portion of the cement factory is the tall chimney of a former kiln seen from the Lookout in the Sunken Garden. This lonely chimney now overlooks the reclaimed quarry.

The Butchart Gardens - Mementoes On Sale

The gardens have their own store, which can be accessed online too. Recently someone asked me about floating flower nightlights and I couldn't see those, so I searched a few here.

Butchart Gardens, Japanese Garden in Victoria BC

Stone, water, a traditional bridge and trees

We are working on a Japanese corner for our own little plot here in England, but nothing beats the real deal! Robert and Jennie celebrated their travels abroad by creating a Japanese Garden at the Butchart Gardens in 1908.

Enjoydeal Purple Solar Powered LED Multi-color Pond Garden Pool Floating Lotus Flower Night Light Lamp
Enjoydeal Purple Solar Powered LED Multi-color Pond Garden Pool Floating Lotus Flower Night Light Lamp
These solar powered lilies come in a variety of shades. I was taken with this purple one.
 

Other Gardens Created At The Butchart Gardens

Variety at the Butchart Gardens

Later they created an Italian Garden and replaced a vegetable patch with the Rose Garden in 1929.

Birds and Birdhouses at the Butchart Gardens

Gardens are for Birds too

Mr. Butchart enjoyed his wife's work and contributed by collecting ornamental birds from all over the world. He kept ducks, peacocks, and a parrot in the main house.


He also trained pigeons at the site of the present Begonia Bower. He was very proud of Jennie's work and built elaborate birdhouses throughout the gardens.

I Bought A Beautiful Hummingbird - Swarovski Crystal Hummingbirds

While I was at the Butchart Gardens I bought a beautiful crystal hummingbird for my Mum from the gift shop. It has since triggered an interest in Swarovski hummingbirds. The gift shop at the Gardens has a lovely selection, but if you can't get there, you might like to look at these.

Entrance-ing Butchart Gardens....

Blossoming Cherry trees greet visitors in the Spring

News of Mrs. Butchart's gardening spread. By the 1920s more than fifty thousand people came each year to see the gardens.


Their estate was christened "Benvenuto", Italian for "Welcome", and flowering cherry trees were purchased from Yokohama Nursery in Japan. These were planted from West Saanich Road to The Butchart Gardens' entrance. (This is not a cherry blossom from Victoria - sadly I missed that display!)

Butchart Gardens - A Family Business

The Butchart family tradition

The Butchart Gardens is still a family business and a premier West Coast display garden, with an international reputation for its display of flowering plants all year round.


Close to a million people visit each year, and also over 1,000,000 bedding plants in 700 varieties ensure uninterrupted bloom from March through October. Entertainment and lighting displays are presented each summer and Christmas.

Florentine Bronzes

Sculpture at the Burchart Gardens

Ian and Ann-Lee Ross purchased The Fountain of Three Sturgeons and the bronze boar in 1973. Pietro Tacca, created the marble statue of the Boar in 1620. It is displayed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.


This rare bronze casting has a shiny snout form visitors giving it a rub for good luck! It is called Tacca after the original sculptor and is dedicated to the children and dogs who visit the Gardens!

If you have enjoyed this lens, been to the Gardens, or would like to see them, please leave a message here! Thank you!

© 2009 Lisa Marie Gabriel

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)