Victoria - Butchart and Butterfly Gardens

The Butcharts' home now houses restaurants, the gift shop and info center.

The view looking down into the Sunken Garden, once a limestone quarry.

This pond with water lilies is in the Sunken Garden

 Because if was a short day in Victoria we decided to go on another cruise ship tour and the only one with seats available was the Butchart Gardens and Butterfly Gardens. I really wanted just the former having seen many butterfly gardens in the past but our experience in San Francisco cutting it too close on boarding taught us to be careful. And it was a very good tour due to an excellent guide who drove us two different directions through Victoria so we saw a lot of the city. 

This waterfall was at the end of the quarry. Those are forget-me-nots in blue with wine dark tulips.

Scott in the Japanese Garden

I found this peep hole in the Japanese Garden that showed a glimpse of the lake and their boats.

Butchart Gardens is a marvel - one of the prettiest ones I've ever seen - especially the sunken garden which is built in the old lime quarry. Robert and Jennie Butchart bought land on Vancouver island in 1904 with limestone deposits for his Portland Cement Company. In 1909 when the quarry was exhausted Jennie began a life long job of turning it into a garden. It's still owned by the family and run by their great-granddaughter. 

I can't resist including tons of photos - there were many more of course.

The Italian Garden, built on the old tennis courts

The tulip colors were so gorgeous - looking from the Italian garden to the Rose Garden, which was due to the time of year, flowerless. 

As you can see from the photos, we had a beautiful day. We walked all around the property. The main areas are: the Sunken garden, Rose garden, Japanese garden and Italian garden. The displays are changed for each of the four seasons. We wish we could be there to view the other 3 seasons!!!

More tulips in the Italian Garden

The Greenhouse with orchids and blue poppies

A view into the Greenhouse

Just love these!

Then we moved to the Butterfly garden, a private enterprise and quite nice really. Scott particularly loved the flamingo and parrots. They had some lovely flowers as well. The drive back went right through the historic waterfront area and really made us wish we had a lot more time there. Oh well, another time maybe. But our last night on ship was very pleasant with a good evening show featuring the Princess singers and dancers. We said good-bye to our wonderful Stewart Paolo and packed our suitcases to leave outside our door. More on our trip to Vancouver in my next posts.

Blue Poppies are ethereal 

This insect is well camouflaged. 

Scott was good at catching these butterflies
at their brief rest.

And the parrots as well.

Only one flamingo!

Those are U.S. mountains across the bay from Victoria