Butchart Gardens

As part of your customized fall tour spend some time with us in the world famous Butchart Gardens. The year 2004 was the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Butchart Gardens.

In one of the first gardens developed, the Japanese garden, we see in our temperate Northwest setting, the fusion between the Edwardian influences of Jenny Butchart with the traditional Japanese garden design of Isaburo Kishida. This gifted landscaper came from Yokahama Japan at the age of 65 to work on this and other Japanese style gardens in the Victoria area. (ask about our customized tour featuring his gardens). Fall provides us with a kaleidoscope of foliage colour for the Japanese art and architecture (some dating back to the time of Mr,Kishida) and Jenny Butchart’s rustic Edwardian structures.

The origin of Butchart Gardens as the restoration of a limestone quarry is seen in the use of faux bois cement features here and throughout the other display gardens.

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The Gardens

A Testimonial

From Martin Kovar
As a graduate of two Master of Landscape Architecture programs and a practicing residential garden designer in Canada, I was truly pleased with the high standard or guided tours offered by Joan Looy of Victorian Garden Tours. Having participated in several escorted visits to gardens in Europe, Joan surprised me with a customized itinerary of sites tailored to satisfy my individual interests, based on a telephone discussion Joan initiated in advance of our tour.

Paying careful attention to each garden location and exposure, Joan lined up our visits so as to show each site in the optimal light and time of day. Her intimate knowledge of Victoria gardens and access privileges to a vast array of sites, allowed me, an out of province visitor, to start my day experiencing the quiet wonder of treading on a grassy path shimmering with silver dew, hemmed by cushy mounds of textural perennials. Similarly, the study of shadow play and rich colours of pealing bark displayed by an aged rhododendron grouping, were offered in the afternoon.

Like a chef, Joan took me through the day serving the exact right dishes at the most appropriate times, with heavy emphasis on desert items. Delight yourself, and sample some of the sites Victorian Garden Tours gained access to over many years in business. Let Joan know about your taste preferences, and she will do her best to satisfy your appetite for the art of gardening.

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