venturing4th: Bkutchart Gardens

The Butchart Gardens covers more than 55 acres of a 130 acre estate. It began from an idea Jennie Butchart had to beautify the worked-out limestone quarry which had supplied her husband Robert Pim Butchart's nearby Portland cement plant. The Gardens were developed through a mixture of rare and exotic shrubs, trees and flowers, often collected by the Butcharts during their extensive world travels, continually expanded over the years to become the world famous Suken, Japanese, Rose, Italian and Mediterranean gardens we visited today.

The hospitable Butcharts christened their estate "Benvenuto" - Italian for "Welcome" (no pineapple in sight). By the 1920's more than fifty thousand people visited each year. Today The Gardens is still owned and operated by the family. It is visited by close to a million visitors annually. Come join us on our visit!

Our lunch spot - adjacent to the parking lot.

Seasonal welcoming display.

We followed the suggested rout for visiting the various gardens. First, we took the left hand path by the Snail Pond...

opposite rambling roses that festoon the pillars marking the sloping border of the Piazza...

past the Peace Sculpture to...

the Sunken Garden, the old quarry.

Viewing the Sunken Garden from above.

Even the refuse containers have little gardens on top.

At the far end of the Sunken Garden is the Ross Fountain, created and installed in 1964for the Gardens 60th anniversary by Ian Ross, grandson of the Butcharts.

Water rises 70 ft. providing an ever-changing display.

From here the path slopes upward past various little gardens such as this bog garden above and...

this forest scene with topiary animals.

The Children's Pavilion and Rose Carousel, a menagerie carousel with 30 hand-carved wooden animals.

Beyond, two totem poles carved and installed to mark the 100th anniversary of The Gardens.

Off to the side is a seedling field with the irrigating pool beyond. This is also the site of the Saturday evening fireworks display.

The Dragon Fountain is a gift fro the People's Republic of China and Victoria's sister-city, Suzhou.

Adjacent are several specimen trees such as this Monkey puzzle tree.

In the Rose Garden, the bronze Sturgeon Fountain cast in Florence, Italy.

View over the lawns to the main residence.

We walked through the Torii gate and down the steps to the Japanese Garden.

This non-traditional garden began in 1906 with the expert assistance of Japanese landscaper, Isaburo Kishida.

An opening in the hedge provides a view of the bay.

We took the path through a bamboo arch to the dock where electrically operated boats take passengers on a ride past the remains of the cement factory in Tod Inlet.

A flight of stairs leads from the Japanese Garden to the Star Pond - originally designed for Mr. Butchart's collection of ornamental ducks.

Between the two arched entrances to the Italian Garden is a bronze statue of Mercury - just like the one on the mantel of the Trustees Room of the Providence Public Library - only bigger.

The cross-shaped pond is fed by a fountain depicting a child holding a fish.

The Piazza has this sculpture of a donkey and...

this charming fellow, the Florentine bronze statue of Tacca the Boar. We rubbed his nose for luck.

We finished the tour in less than two hours and walked one and a half miles. We decided to walk the tour backwards. As they say with an out-and-back hike, it looks different going the opposite direction. This time we focused on the individual flowers.