Do you like gardening? Do you have a green thumb? Or maybe you’re like my mom, who likes take care of plants, but unfortunately the plans come here to die…. WELL, as promised I am here to talk about Vancouver and Victoria! So lets get into that, starting with the gardens!
We landed in Vancouver at 11 o’clock, in the morning PST. There’s a four hour time difference from New Brunswick to British Columbia, and it’s actually not THAT bad. Or maybe I’m just used to going to sleep at ungodly hours. I dunno. (But actually, I woke up at 4:00 the other day, and I didn’t feel tired at all….) With our rental car, we drove directly to the ferry (Tsawwassen) to go to Vancouver Island. We wanted to visit Victoria. It’s not exactly a cheap ferry though, my dad paid $117 CAD for the car and three “adults” because apparently I’m an adult when I go to theme parks and ferry rides, even though I’m only 14. If you do not want to travel by ferry, you can hop on a float plane or by helicopter. I went to Victoria before though, click here to read about my last trip to The Empress Hotel in Victoria!
Fun fact: On May 30, 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the queen’s mother) attended a luncheon at the Empress during their 1939 royal tour of Canada.
So, obviously by the title of the post, I went to Butchart Gardens (pronounced a little like boo charred because it’s ✨French✨), the history of the gardens is that allll 55 acres (22 ha) of the 130 acre (53 ha) estate used to be a limestone quarry owned and operated by the Butchart family. Jennie Butchart planned to beautify this lovely garden and bring it back to life. The most famous of all the gardens is the Sunken Garden, but there are also Japanese Gardens, Rose Gardens, Italian Gardens, and Mediterranean Gardens. I recommend going in spring because that’s when all the flowers bloom! Yay! Spring time is great, BUT the garden is all year round! Yes, even in the winter! At Christmas they even have a skating rink and a festival of lights.
Butchart Garden first welcomed the guests in 1921. That means the garden has been blooming for over one hundred years! In 2004, it was designated as National Historic Site of Canada. Click Butchart Garden for more information including rates and hours of operation. 😀
There are lots of fun treats to try at the Garden, and of course, there’s afternoon tea. I am a big fan of afternoon teas.
PHOTO TIME!
Quick note: I’m sorry guys, you can’t smell the flowers through your devices screen 🙁
Sooooo prettyyyyy and in bloooooooommmmmmm
TULIPS & HYACINTH with ENGLISH DAISIES
In the middle of the Sunken Garden is the rock mound. And me on it, trying to… er… lick the trees. Yes. I’m weird. 😂 The fountain is behind. Ross Fountain was installed in 1964 for the Gardens 60th Anniversary by Ian Ross, grandson of the Butcharts.
Because we are in the west coast, we can’t forget about the totem poles in the concert lawn area! In July and August, there’s also a fireworks display on Saturdays.
And we have a dragon! I like dragons! This dragon fountain was a gift from China to Butchard Garden.
This beautiful building behind me is the original dairy barn in property.
Look at those photography skilsssssssss
Rose garden, but roses aren’t really in bloom yet 🙁
Then we went to the Japanese Garden XD
Japanese Garden without a koi pond?? WHERE’S THE KOI POND YOU CAN’T HAVE A JAPANESE GARDEN WITHOUT THE-
And lastly, the Mediterranean Garden. There’s a lot of people waiting for their gelato/ice cream. XD
That concludes this post! I hope you enjoyed seeing all the pretty flowers! Let me know what other gardens I should visit in the comments below! Yayyy!
(Y’all have no idea how many times I put “Butheart” instead of Butchart for this post)
Beautiful photography and post! I (Kellye) want to visit Butchart Gardens now, but it’s a long way from where we live in Texas! Thank you for taking us there on your trravels.
Thank you for reading! I hope the pretty flowers brightened up your day ☺️
my goodness those gardens are beautiful! What a wonderful, bright, and happy post to start off this dreary Tuesday 🙂
Perrrrfecttttt 🤍✨
I have been there – though I don’t remember much about it at all. Well it was 20 years ago and at my age I have a job remembering what I did 20 minutes ago! I visited a friend of mine who was married to a British guy – I met them when they lived in England but they retired and moved to Victoria in the late 1990’s.
Ooh, well I guess this post can help you remember 🌹🌸🌺🌷🌻🌼💐🥀🪷
Maybe 🤔
Amazingly beautiful! Thanks for sharing! We have been to Vancouver and Ioved it. We missed going to Vancouver Island but definitely want to go, especially now seeing this beautiful garden!
Yay! I hope you get a chance to go there! The garden really is pretty 🌼🌺🌷🌻🪷🌹🌸
Even though I don’t have the patience for gardening, I do love visiting gardens! When I lived in London, I went to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew every June. June is the best time to go because everything is blooming and it’s right before the tourist season peaks in July and August. Trust me, do NOT go to London in July or August! I used to avoid going into the city as much as possible on those months because it’s ridiculous then!
Noted 📝☺️ I don’t have the patience for gardening either, plants come to my house to die, like I said in the post!
Fair enough. In my family, my Mum is the gardener and I’m the chef. Since I’m trained as a chef, I know how to make her home grown plants sing in my dishes! Although, that was true when we were in California. Mum’s still figuring out how to grow sprouts inside and our kitchen is too small to do much cooking. Still, it was a fun time of my life to cook up Mum’s home-grown food!
She grows the food, and you cook it! Nice! 🌝
WOW stunning beautiful Spring flowers at their best thank you for sharing
Anita and I LOVED Butchart Gardens, but it has been over 15 years since we were there (before you were even born)! Thanx for the beautiful review!
❤️&🙏, c.a.
Yayyyy thank you for reading! 🎋💐🌾🌷🌹🌸🌺🪷🥀🌻🌼
I went there as a teen. I don’t remember the gardens… only lightening during the ferry back to… Washington?… and a scarf I bought.
Thx for the share!
🌝
Heeeyyy…you put the text over the socks!! What’s the image/design???
Hahahaha they are little suns with faces 🌞
Cool. When I enbiggened, they kind looked like little kid’s drawing of a face with spikes for hair!
Ha
Butchart Gardens is definitely a lovely place to visit. You really lucked out with the weather as we have had a horrible spring here on the west coast. If you ever return to Vancouver and haven’t been to Van Dusen Garden you must check that out. I’ve been in all seasons and have written about each of them…it’s lovely no matter when you go.
Will have to keep that in mind next time I go to the West Coast! Thank you!
Ariel, this is the most spectacular garden I have ever seen! Thank you for the lovely photos. <3 A very WOW post. All the best to you and your adventurous family! 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed my post! 🙂 <4
Ah, you are visiting my favourite gardens! I’ve been there many times and had fun revisiting it on your blog. Did you also get to visit the Butterfly Farm? That’s a great experience too. If you are still there, check it out. Cheers, Muriel
Yay! No, I didn’t not visit the butterfly gardens 🙁 But they sounds fun! I will put them on my list of gardens to visit next!