If you arrive on Vancouver Island via Swartz Bay, plan a stop at the Butchart Gardens while being on your way to Victoria. When I imagine the inside of the rabbit hole in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland this is the place that comes most close to it. The private garden was created by Jennie Butchart in 1904 in a quarry that her husbands business had caused. You can stroll the sunken garden, a beautiful Japanese garden, a rose garden and sections focused on Italy and the Mediterranean flora.
Butchart Gardens do have a very special atmosphere and are not like a typical botanical garden: the are now signs explaining you which plant you’re seeing – but you can take a photo and identify them at a special service center later. The people in the garden are amazingly friendly and it is a great pleasure to walk all those larger and tinier paths through the different gardens. I absolutely enjoyed exploring the Japanese garden with many original elements between the plants. The authenticity is because of the Japanese gardener Isaburo Kishida who worked there between 1907 and 1912 and laid the foundation for this scenic section.
Butchart Gardens
Brentwood bay
Vancouver Island
British Columbia
Canada
https://www.butchartgardens.com
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