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From stone quarry to lush garden – The story of The Butchart Gardens

A weekend on Vancouver Island is not complete without a visit to The Butchart Gardens. As stated on their website, The Butchart Gardens is a must-see oasis over 100 years in the making. And what a privilege it was to take in the beauty of this place that stands as a testament to what is possible when one has a grand vision. The story of The Butchart Gardens is also one of the most interesting family business success stories never told…

It all began with one woman’s vision and passion

In 1904, husband and wife, Robert and Jennie Butchart moved from Ontario to Vancouver Island in pursuit of riches through the mining of limestone deposits. With a quarry for their backyard, they built a cement plant at Tod Inlet, and Robert soon built a successful cement business. At the time, the West Coast was exploding with development, and cement was in constant demand from San Francisco to Seattle. The first sacks of cement sailed out of Vancouver Island aboard the “Alexander” in 1905.

Jennie Butchart busied herself around the estate by planting flowers and shrubbery in an area between the house and Butchart cove. As time passed, Jennie’s efforts increased, and her husband often supplied workmen from the factory to assist in the ever-growing project of gardening. By 1908 the limestone ran out, leaving a gigantic pit near the house.

The limestone quarry pit in 1912. Source: https://www.butchartgardens.com/our-story/

In an attempt to hide this hideous excavation, Jennie decided to expand her garden. The concept of a sunken garden formed, and Jennie had massive amounts of topsoil imported by horse cart to form the garden bed. The rubble on the floor of the pit was pushed into tall mounds of rock on which terraced flowers were planted. Mrs. Butchart dangled over the sides of the bare quarry wall in a boson’s chair and carefully tucked ivy into any discernible pocket or crevice in the rock to hide away all the gray.

In 1921, the project was completed. It had become a garden of immense interest to the surrounding community. Tales of Mr. and Mrs. Butchart’s fabulous gardens spread as fast as the gardens themselves. From the beginning, friends, acquaintances, and even complete strangers were welcomed, as they came to marvel at the horticultural masterpiece. At one point Mrs. Butchart found herself serving 18 000 cups of tea per year – or so the story goes…

1929. The garden taking shape. Source: https://www.butchartgardens.com/our-story/

The most interesting family business success story never told…

In 1939, Mr. and Mrs. Butchart gifted the gardens to their grandson Ian Ross on his 21st birthday. Ian Ross transformed them into the world-renowned attraction we know today, adding outdoor concerts and night lighting in the summers, and the Magic of Christmas in the winters.

The gardens were then handed down to their great-grandson Christopher in 1997. Christopher began producing a choreographed firework show every year. Unfortunately, Christopher suddenly died in 2000 and the gardens landed in the hands of his sister Robin-Lee Clarke (63), who is the current owner of the gardens.  In 2009 Robin-Lee added the Children’s Pavilion and Menagerie Carousel to the gardens.

The sunken garden today. It’s hard to believe this was an old limestone quarry pit.
Rows and rows of flowers in the sunken garden
Robin-Lee’s Menagerie Carousel
Staircase to a lookout point
In 1964, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Gardens, Ian Ross created and installed the Ross Fountain. The water rises 21 m (70 ft.) in the air.
A rare sight in the gardens. The Himalayan Blue Poppy. It was imported to the gardens and only blooms for two weeks a year. We were lucky enough to see it in bloom…

The Butchart name has remained prominent in Victoria for over 10 decades and the gardens have been handed down from one generation to the next. The next in line to inherit the gardens, is Barnabas Butchart Clarke (34), the only child of Robin-Lee and David Clarke, and great-great-grandson of the founders. He currently lives in Victoria and produces dance shows.

Today, The Butchart Gardens is a National Historic Site of Canada. You can still find remnants of the original cement plant and over a million bedding plants in over 900 varieties awaiting you as you wander The Butchart Gardens. It is worth it to take a boat trip in Brentwood Bay around the gardens. Your guide will tell you about the history of the gardens as well as some amazing stories about the Pacific Ocean.

Walking through these gardens got me thinking about life in general. Often, we find ourselves in situations that are less desirable or sometimes even downright frustrating. And we can choose to sit and cry amid the chaos. We could even get angry at the dust and decay underneath our feet. Or we can decide that we want to build a garden instead and create a more desirable future. We possess the power to either fall into dismay along with the chaos around us or to choose to create something beautiful out of it. And through our focus and effort, we might just inspire others, much like the gardens have inspired people for over 100 years…

References:

Butchart Gardens. (2018). Our Story. Available online from: https://www.butchartgardens.com/our-story/

Birds of a Feather. (n.d.). Butchart Family History – Robert and Jennie. Available online from: https://www.birdsofafeather.ca/butchart-family-history

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Celebrating Victoria Day in Victoria

On 21 May, British Columbia celebrated Victoria Day. Victoria Day is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday preceding May 25; in honour of Queen Victoria’s birthday. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to visit the Capital of British Columbia – Victoria. Victoria sits on the craggy southern end of Vancouver Island. So, in other words, Victoria, altough it is the Capital city of the provence of British Columbia, is not on the mainlaind, but rather on an island just off the mainlaind. It is a 90-minute ferry ride through the Strait of Georgia from Tsawwassen harbour in Vancouver to Swartz Bay in Victoria.

However, the ferry ride is the middle part of the journey. Our journey from Vancouver to Victoria started with an hour train ride from Coquitlam to downtown Vancouver. From the train station we had to find a Vancouver Island tourist bus which drove us to Tsawwassen harbour. The bus boards the ferry that takes us over the water to Vancouver Island. It is amazing to see this whole operation in action. You cannot begin to imagine the size and the magnitude of the operation of this ferry. It carries trucks, busses, cars and foot passengers over the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver Island. Below is a short video of the ferry entering the harbour. At this stage we were sitting on the bus watching the ferry dock.

This is what it looks like at the lower level of the ferry where all the cars, busses and trucks are parked
There are elevators and stairs that take you to the upper levels of the ferry
Seating on the ferry
Dining on the ferry

Once on the other side, the bus takes you into Victoria. It is still another hour’s drive from Swartz Bay harbour to Victoria city centre. So the total journey is about 6 hours. Is it worth it? Absolutely!!

Victoria is characterised by abundant parkland and has an array of outdoor activities to pursue.

A park with the Fairmont Empress Hotel in the background

The city’s British colonial past shows in its Victorian architecture.

We ended up staying in a hotel in the scenic Inner Harbour. This is right at the heart of the city and this area is bustling with floatplanes and harbour ferries.

Inner harbour
Inner harbour with BC Parliament Buildings in the background

The Inner harbour from a different angle

Another way of getting to Vancouver Island is via float plane. They land in the Inner harbour.

The city’s most famous historic building is of course the BC Parliament Buildings.

BC Parliament Buildings
BC Parliament Buildings
Statutes in front of BC Parliament Buildings with beautiful Spring flowers in bloom
A statue of Queen Victoria
The fountain in front of the BC Parliament Buildings
And of course a Totem Pole

Here you can grab a traditional horse and cart and see a bit of the city this way. It was a bit too expensive for us, but Emma got to pet the horses…

Other famous buildings include the Fairmont Hotel Empress…

The Empress Hotel

…as well as the funky Fisherman’s Wharf, with its resident seals and lemonade stands.

Boats at the docks at Fisherman’s Wharf
Floating houses at Fisherman’s Wharf. These are privately owned homes on the water.
The end of the docks of floating homes…

Everyone recommends Barb’s Fish & Chips at Fisherman’s Wharf. But of course, as you can imagine, this means that the queues are endless at Barb’s. We discovered the most amazing fried salmon at The Floating Fish Store. We went back the next day for more. It was delicious!

Best fish on the docks – The Floating Fish Store
Fried salmon and fries with coleslaw
And if you can manage it after your fish and fries, grab some mini doughnuts…

Another must-try at Fisherman’s Wharf for those with a sweet tooth, is Jackson’s Ice Cream.

Some tips if you are ever able to visit the island:

You can take your car on the ferry, but you need to book well in advance and reserver your spot on BC Ferries. We found taking the bus was less stressful, because it takes the thinking out of it. You just have to get on the bus and the bus driver manages everything else.

If you book your ferry trip on BC Ferries they often have accommodation packages as well, so you could actually book your ferry and your accommodation together and save a lot of money on accommodation. It is more expensive booking seperately. We learned that the hard way.

You don’t really need a car if you are planning to spend your weekend in Victoria. There is lots to see and do and most of it is within walking distance. They also have a hop-on-hop-off tour bus that takes you all over the city, so you can easily get to all the major attractions of the city without needing your own car.

However, if you plan to visit the rest of Vancouver Island, you will probably need a car. So you could either bring your car over on the ferry or rent a car once you are in Victoria. Keep in mind that the ferry also travels to other harbours on Vancouver Island. You could take a ferry to Nanaimo for example – which is located on the east side of Vancouver Island and which is another popular tourist destination.

Eat before you go on the ferry. This allows you to take in the scenery on your way to the island instead of having to stand in the queues at the diner waiting for food. Because we took the 07:00 ferry, we figured we would have breakfast on the ferry. We ended up waiting in line for the whole 90 minutes of the ferry ride and missed out on the trip to the island.

On our way back to Vancouver, we opted to sit outside on the top deck of the ferry. The views from here are breathtaking.

Seating on the top deck of the ferry. Make sure to take sunscreen on a hot day.
The view simply takes your breath away

It was a crazy whirlwind weekend, but it was literally the first time we actually felt like we were living in a coastal city. We had so much fun. The 6-hour transit back home is a bit tiring though, so keep that in mind. There is still so much we want to see and do, so despite the schlep of getting there, we will definitely take another trip to Vancouver Island in the near future.