Butchart Gardens

The lovely Butchart Gardens are located on Vancouver Island near Brentwood Bay. We travelled there via a BC Ferries boat from Vancouver. We combined this with some touring and an overnight stay in the capital city of British Columbia, Victoria. The Butchart Gardens are located about 20 minutes from the ferry and 30 minutes from Victoria via auto. We spent about 2 hours touring the gardens.

Gorgeous flowers are found throughout Butchart Gardens

Butchart Gardens has been “in bloom” for over 100 years and is designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Situated on a 130 acre estate, the gardens cover more than 55 acres. The gardens began as an idea from Jennie Butchart to beautify a worked-out limestone quarry which had supplied the family’s nearby Portland cement plant.

The Sunken Garden was designed to beautify an old quarry

Ross Fountain is located at the far end of the Sunken Garden

This view of a weeping willow and lily pads are reminiscent of a Monet painting

“The Gardens, through the skillful 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 Sunken, Japanese, Rose, Italian and Mediterranean gardens you see today.” -Excerpt from Gardens Map & Guide

Peaceful serenity in the Japanese Garden

Another section of the Japanese Garden

The gardens are still owned and operated by the family with the assistance of a large staff. Visitors to the Gardens total close to a million per year. The regions relatively mild climate allow the Gardens to remain open all year, but peak visitation is July & August.

There are numerous fountains throughout the Gardens including: Ross fountain, a dragon, sturgeon, and star fountain. There are fireworks displays on Saturday evenings in the summer as well as some Nighttime Illumination. There are concerts held at a concert lawn.