Butchard Gardens

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada

Butchards Garden – May 12, 2016

Happy birthday Paul
Some people get some flowers – Paul this year got a lot of flowers… because it is the start of the official retirement and so we went to Butchards Garden

What's to know about Butchards Garden?

Robert Butchard moved here with his family in 1904 to build a cement plant and develop a quarry
Close to the quarry they established their home
As the pit grew – his wife Jennie had tons of topsoil brought here – lined the floor and brought flowers to the sunken yard
Between 1906-1929 they created a Japanese garden near the seaside, an Italian garden on their former tennis court
He collected ornamental birds from all over the world and kept them in his star pond
The grandson Ian Ross got the garden on his 21^st birthday – after WWII he worked hard to establish its former glory – made it famous and had during the summer month outdoor symphony concerts
Ian 1987 he initiated the magic of Christmas
Ian’s son Christopher a talented dancer started to choreograph the summer shows until his dead in 2000 – he also designed and produced the fireworks
By 1920s more than 50.000 people visited the garden each year
The Butcharts christened their garden Benvenuto – the Italian word for welcome
In 2004 the garden was in bloom for 100 years and became a national historic site
You can still see one tall chimney of the cement plant visible from the sunken garden – the plant stopped manufacturing cement in 1916

And that’s how our day went by:
So you drive into the parking lot after you paid and already the nice flowers welcome you and so we start our:

Walk 1:

Piazza: welcomes us: with the super nice tulips, the dears and the famous boar
Through a gate we come into the Italian garden with the cool looking pond and the statue
Continuing through the gates in the green wall to the Star pond: which looks super cute – even I think it is funky that a guy collects ornamental ducks… but it is an awesome place to sit and soak in sun – and look up at the steps in the lawn before we continue on to the
Japanese garden: and we love it: lots of flowering Rhodos and Azaleas, the blue Himalayan poppies – which were planted here first in North America, lots of funky bridges, and even more moos overgrown Japanese art sculptures
And then we end up at the Butchard Cove: and we found the tiny window in the green hedge
On the way back we found the three sturgeon fountain and now it is time for

Break 1:

Butchart Garden - our first coffee break

Let’s have a coffee in the sun and after a short rest we are ready for the next walk

Walk 2:

This time we start at the official starting point with the snail pond
Look down on the piazza
Reach the rose garden and walk through the rose arches – ok we are a little bit early for the flowering roses
But we find the fountain or wishing well and kiss the frog – but it didn’t became a prince
We came to the totem poles
and check out the rose carousel – and there is that bronze horse Annabelle – so Gine decided to go for a ride – Paul chickened out, until we came by again and he had to check it out too and decide now would be a good time for

Break 2:

this time for a lunch break in the old house of the Butchards with garden view: because lucky for us we found a seat right at the window and after another break we are ready for

Walk 3: We check out the sunken garden and the fountain

first we check out the Show greenhouse – where the colors nearly overwhelm you
then we go to the sunken garden: and when you stand there and look down you only can be in awe – it is unbelievable that someone turned a pit into a wonderful garden like this
we went up to the rock chimney in the middle to get some nice views from the top
discover the rose fountain: and there we love it to watch the water display… even better they put in benches, if you can sit long enough still
we walk along the bog garden: and look down in the swampy area with all the greenery and discover deer’s and ducks from moss
check out the little house for a viewing point of the sunken garden and after all those impressions we need another

Break 3:

for another coffee – before we check out the water wheel and are on the way home

And so a whole day goes by with walking – looking and checking out – discovering something – sitting down and enjoy the sunshine and between we have some wonderful breaks with coffee – yummy funky salad and sandwich… the only thing I don’t get is: why they say you can see all in 1.5-2 hrs – seriously where is the enjoying of the garden!!!

And when is the best time to come here:
I would say one year we should have a yearly pass and come every month to see all the different seasons…. That would be a whole lot of fun

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