WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6:

    An easy ride into Victoria, about 40 minutes.  Forty minutes from campground to destination seems to be our norm!

     Found our way easily to Butchart Gardens, Victoria’s famed Number One attraction.  And so easy to see why.  These gardens are absolutely spectacular. Neither of us can ever remember seeing such an exquisite blending of man’s artistic creation and God’s natural world.  Around every pathway were new extravagances in color and composition.  One of the things that makes these gardens so magnificent is the lush density of plants – not a square foot is wasted nor neglected nor unplanned for . . . from the massive centerpieces of the Sunken Garden to the most subtle, delicate of small borders as you stroll the curved pathways between the designated gardens.   And of course all against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest’s native stunning cedars, hemlocks, Douglas firs.   

                                                             

       Mr. Butchart made his fortune in the concrete business in the late 19th century.  As the limestone was depleted from the quarry, Mrs. Butchart had the brilliant idea of turning the ugly, empty quarry into a “sunken” garden.  She worked with her master gardener and a well-known landscape architect to design that garden, which would become the signature piece in the 55-acre gardens, now over a century old.  


                                                

Mr. Butchart’s son had the fountain installed at the far end of that garden several years later. 

      Another garden which we really enjoyed was the Japanese Garden.  It was similar to our Japanese Garden in our Botanical Gardens back home in that it created a very peaceful, subdued, natural-looking environment.  But it was larger, and the area is laid out with more overlapping and twisting pathways, lending itself to unexpected little surprises as you walk the curves.

 

               After a light dinner in their casual restaurant (they also have a more formal one, where you can indulge in High Tea), we re-visited the Sunken Garden in twilight,  

                                                      

        taking a detour to watch a chess game in progress played with knee-high game pieces.                                                           

                                     

Then we walked over to the Gardens concert venue, where they have entertainment every night.  Tonight,-- we lucked out – was a Blues band.  They were all grey-haired old dudes;  but man, could they play!  Bill thought they were really excellent – very original & creative in their arrangements.  When you have a great band rockin’ with “Johnny B Goode” under the moonlight on a cool, dry Pacific Northwest evening surrounded by one of the world’s premier display gardens, well, it doesn’t get much better than that.     A very special, memorable day.  

                                                                  

  FLOWER CLOSE-UP'S: