Views of Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula. . .and beyond
I made Dutch babies the other day. I’ve posted about them before. They’re delicious breakfast souffles that I make from time to time, usually topped with seasonal fruit, and sometimes lemon curd. See the raspberries on this? I picked them fresh last summer and froze them for a moment like this, sometime long after raspberry season when summer still feels too far away.
I’m almost counting the days until berries here come into season again. You better believe it’s worth waiting for.
We came across this unusual topiary in a residential Victoria garden.
Sometimes people are as irresistible as scenery.
The Butchart Gardens aren’t 100% gardens. There are buildings: places to eat, a visitor center, a gift shop. Beyond these trellises on the left is the Dining Room Restaurant where a nice afternoon tea is served. If your wallet yearns to be free there are opportunities to lighten its load.
Another favorite area of The Butchart Gardens is the classic Japanese Garden. In the Japanese Garden there are classic bridges to complete the scene.
It’s hard to find a view that isn’t glorious. Like other parts of the gardens the Japanese Garden is enlivened with water.
Over the course of its 100 plus years The Butchart Gardens have been pruned, shaped and groomed to an incomparable visual panorama.
There are lawns, of course, framed with flowers and trees.
Everywhere there are swaths of color. It’s an inspiration to take in such a vibrant springtime tribute to the beauty of living plants.
At one end of the Sunken Garden at The Butchart Gardens is a fine excuse to sit on a bench and be entertained. The Ross fountain is a mesmerizing water feature.
The fountain cycles through an amazing display of patterns. It was created and installed in 1964 for the Gardens’ 60th anniversary by the grandson of the Butcharts, Ian Ross. The family still owns and operates the Gardens.
The water flows through so many different movements it’s hard to know when a cycle has completed. Even with so much more of the beautiful gardens to take in it’s hard to pull away from this hypnotic view.