Tag: The Butchart Gardens

Water works

Butchart Ross fountain 1

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.

Butchart Ross fountain 2

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.

Butchart Ross fountain 3

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.

More in the Sunken Garden

Butchart path

The Sunken Garden at The Butchart Gardens is probably one of the larger areas in terms of space. Like most areas in the gardens, anywhere a visitor looks from a pathway exposes a new area of panorama, either near or at a distance. Gardeners were out in force when we arrived in the morning, raking, pruning, and primping the grounds. Nearly a million visitors a year come to Butchart.

Butchart four tulips

It rained the day before we visited.

Garden inspiration

Butchart sunken garden pano

Here’s the chief reason for our recent visit to Victoria: The Butchart Gardens. We’d never been there in spring and I was longing for tulips, lots of tulips. After winter’s grey palette, Butchart was an explosive celebration of spring.

Butchart colorful pond

The Butchart Gardens are 55 acres reclaimed from a limestone quarry and are designated a National Historic Site of Canada. They are the result of over 100 years of loving care and stunning design. The Sunken Garden I’m showing you today starts with a lookout (in the top photo). Ponds reflect some of the spectacular rhododendrons, willows, and other foliage in the shot above.

Butchart layers

The gardens have paths that wind through beds planted with masses of flowers. In spring it’s daffodils, tulips, fragrant hyacinths, forget-me-nots, and more. Beautifully shaped trees and larger shrubs complete the picture.

I think I can honestly say that this is one of my favorite places in the world. I’ll show you more of these incomparable gardens in the coming days.