A planting at the entrance to the Butchart Gardens
Blue and purple flower combinations
History of The Butchart Gardens
The year is 1904. Mr. Robert Pim Butchart, the original owner, has
been mining the limestone quarry for his Portland cement business. His
wife, Jennie Butchart, who obviously knows a thing or two about design,
has the brilliant idea of turning the quarry into a garden. He obviously
shares her vision and so begins the transformation of the quarry into
one of Canada’s premier tourist attractions and a National Historic Site
– though that didn’t happen until 2004.
Jennie Butchart was a gifted garden designer. She used the rock
outcropping to great advantage. Then the bones – the permanent and
structural components of the garden – like the trees, shrubs and
walkways were so well thought out that they have survived to the present
day. The photo below illustrates how the garden looked early on and the
one below that shows how it looks today. These gardens are the world
famous Sunken Gardens – and in my opinion the highlight of the Butchart
Gardens.
Over the years The Gardens have been expanded to include the Rose,
Italian, Japanese and Mediterranean Gardens. Plants from their travels –
both rare and exotic, have been added over time. Then throw in
thousands of bulbs, annuals, perennials and roses and voila – the
stunning garden you see today.
By the 1920′s, 50,000 people visited each year. Today that number is closer to one million people per year.