Travel Tips

started as an abandoned rock quarry. The sunken garden was built--literally built (since tons of top soil had to be carried in) in the remains of the Butchart family rock quarry. The photo shows a picture of the quarry in the early stages of its transformation into a sunken garden. The stacks in the rear right of the photo are part of the Butchart family concrete plant. They are now hidden by Lombardy populars.

Sorry the photo is not good quality. The sun glare on the sign made it impossible to get a good picture.

now looks like this.... Sorry it's impossible to get a good photo that shows the entire scope of the area. And lots of the details aren't visible. For instance, there's a charming waterfall cascading down the side of the quarry--but it's back in the shadowy corner on the left and you can't quite see it.

and you begin to get an idea of the scope of the sunken garden. But you can't even see to the end of it in these pictures. Beyond the range of the viewfinder, is a pond with water plants and a surprise feature.

In the deepest part of the abandoned quarry pit...is this! What you can't see in the picture is the giant gunnera that is planted at the edge of the pool. My husband thought it was a rhubarb--which it does resemble--because the edge of the pool was too far away to get an idea of the scale of the thing! Giant Gunneras are huge--leaves up to 8 feet across under the right conditions.

probably I will miss some in this list.... There was, besides the sunken garden, a bog garden, Dahlia garden, Rose garden, Japanese garden, Italian garden, Star garden (so named because of the star shaped fountain in it), plus Mrs. Butchart's private garden and a greenhouse display.

We took hundreds of pictures. I'm sorry I can't post them all but here are a few of the highlights. This picture is of me at the entrance to Jennie Butchart's private garden. Although Mrs. Butchart has been dead for years, her private garden isn't open to the public. You are allowed to look over the gate into it, however.

in case you get a chance to visit someday. My biggest regret is that I didn't visit here in April and May, when the spring flowering bulbs and shrubs were in bloom.

Here's a peek inside Jennie's garden....

of the gardens..... The Japanese garden was lovely--but I saw magnificant pictures of it when it was in spring bloom--and looked to be a totally different place.

for this trip. I hope you enjoyed the little sample of Butchart Gardens! I hope to return someday during the spring bloom period.