When we planned this trip to the Pacific Northwest, I expected rainy weather – but every day so far has been just beautiful! Clear skies, cool temperatures in the morning and warming gently by afternoon. And luckily for us, today was no exception. We arrived at Butchart Gardens bright and early before the crowd, although even by the time we left it was not too crowded. One of the advantages of traveling in the off season!
The garden was developed in a former limestone mine and has grown over its more than 100 years of life into the most spectacular garden I believe I have had the good fortune to visit. We arrived early enough the dew was still heavy on the ground, but you could see the mist rising as the water evaporated giving the garden an ethereal quality.
This is a time of year when the gardens are undergoing some changes for the next season and there were several gardeners hard at work removing old plants, tilling the soil to ready the ground for planting, and even fixing a sprinkler! (I can’t even imagine the miles of plumbing in this place – it’s a pretty big garden.) They were kind enough to stop and chat with us and it was easy to tell these men and women really enjoy their work.
This was my first visit here, but Theo visited about 30 years ago. He assures me the gardens were as beautiful then as today – only with different plants and colors. The last stop before leaving the garden was the gift shop, of course, where I bought a couple packets of seeds to try my hand at growing some of these lovely flowers next spring. We shall see…
Jean
adventures of jean and theo 