Gardens
Victoria is world renowned as the “City of Gardens.” With the mildest climate in Canada, Victoria and its gardens are in bloom year-round. Victoria's legendary passion for gardening stems from the early days when British settlers "tamed" their bit of unruly Pacific wilderness by planting roses to remind them of home. This love of gardening quickly turned into a passion that flourishes all over Victoria from the perfectly groomed gardens of The Butchart Gardens, to the city’s 1,000 signature flower baskets that grace downtown lampposts, to nearly every city park and neighbourhood.
Every February, while most Canadians are still shoveling snow and relying on heaters to keep warm, Victorians are counting flowers! The Annual Flower Count encourages residents and visitors to report the number of blossoms in their flowerbeds or on their fruit trees. The grand total is celebrated as a farewell to winter and welcome to an early spring. The enthusiasm for this tongue-in-cheek promotion is evident in the number of flowers counted – over 3.4-billion blossoms last year!
While every year is a little different, Victoria’s gardens tend to follow the same annual pattern over the long growing season. In early spring, millions of daffodils bloom through March and April, followed by tulips in May. Rhododendrons also begin to bloom in April, and May also sees lilacs and flowering cherry and dogwood trees. Roses of all types are at their peak in June. In midsummer, gardens are bright with perennials and annuals. Late summer and early fall, sees colourful hydrangeas, begonias, gladiolas, dahlias and chrysanthemums.
The Butchart Gardens
The Butchart Gardens are 22 hectartes (55 acres) of flowers, fountains and footpaths. In 1904, the concept of The Butchart Gardens began with an effort to beautify a worked-out quarry site on the 130-acre estate of Mr. and Mrs. R.P. Butchart, pioneers in the manufacture of Portland Cement in Canada. Their endeavour became a family commitment to horticulture and hospitality spanning over 100 years and delighting visitors from all over the world. While at The Butchart Gardens, visitors are also encouraged to enjoy traditional afternoon tea and visit the Plant Identification Centre, where questions can be asked about flowers and plants found at The Gardens.
The gardens are presented in a series of "rooms." The unusual Sunken Garden is the most famous and leaves visitors breathless, not only at its singular beauty, but in frank admiration of Jennie Butchart's vision. Her artistic eye - she had, after all, been offered a scholarship to study art in Paris - led to a remarkable transformation. This garden was once a depleted and rubble-lined limestone quarry when Jennie Butchart began turning the barren space into the garden. The Japanese Garden, which slopes gently to the sea, offers serenity and simple beauty. The entrance is flanked by bright red lacquered "torii" and a stately pair of 90+ year-old copper beech. The Rose Garden, added in 1930 and dotted with no fewer than 2,500 rose plants of 250 astonishing varieties, is spectacular on a summer afternoon. In the continental Italian Garden, presided over by a Florentine bronze sculpture of Mercury, water lilies float on a still sheet of water in the formal pool. The Gardens are open year round. For more information visit www.butchartgardens.com.
Abkhazi Garden
The unique west coast design of this garden has received international recognition, but it is the story of two royal lovers that has captured people's hearts. War and imprisonment kept Prince Nicolas Abkhazi and Peggy Pemberton-Carter apart until they were able to finally reunite in Victoria to create what they called "A garden that love built.”
In 1946, the property was purchased by Peggy Pemberton Carter who came to Victoria after spending close to eight years in a Japanese internment camp outside of Shanghai. She was soon reunited with Prince Nicholas Abkhazi who she had met and fallen in love with in Paris in the 1920’s. Married in Victoria, they began building their garden and home. Slightly more than one acre, the garden features native Garry oaks, ornamental evergreens, significant rhododendrons, rock and alpine plants, naturalized bulbs and examples of Japanese maples and weeping conifers. Abkhazi Garden is constantly being restored by volunteers of the Land Conservancy of BC. For more information visit www.conservancy.bc.ca.
Horticulture Centre of the Pacific
The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific (HCP) offers plant enthusiasts a peaceful, rural environment alive with a varied array of vegetation. Currently, the HCP maintains about 15 acres of demonstration and teaching gardens and has stewardship of about 90 acres of mostly undeveloped land. This includes wetlands with about 35 varieties of birds, pockets of Garry Oak habitat and other sensitive plant material native to the area. The HCP has a registered training school for maintenance gardeners. They also offer monthly workshops and guided walks on seasonally topical subjects.
The central theme is habitat planting. Plants with similar cultivation requirements are grouped together to enhance the natural productivity of the land. This conserves labour and water, and contributes its own subtle aesthetic because plants in an ecological community complement one another visually. Victoria's mild Pacific winters allow for year-round gardening. Visitors can tour the Centre's Winter Garden, Rhododendron Garden, Japanese Garden, Heather Garden and Dahlia Trial Garden, which are maintained by local garden clubs. A large collection of perennials including lilies, hardy fuchsias, irises and more are also a feature of the Centre. For more information visit www.hcp.bc.ca.
Finnerty Gardens, University of Victoria
The University of Victoria Finnerty Gardens contain a major collection of rhododendrons, as well as many other varieties of plants. The gardens are always interesting, but the months of April and May are the peak blooming season and the best time to visit. The University Gardens were developed when, in 1974, the estate of Mrs. Jeanne Buchanan Simpson of Cowichan Lake was left to the University. She and her husband George, beginning in the 1920's, built up a notable collection of Rhododendron species at their Lake Cowichan home. Many plants were grown from seed obtained directly or indirectly from famous plant explorers of the day. Their garden was the largest collection in British Columbia.
The Buchanan Simpson's gift transferred to the University the responsibility for the well being of a significant collection of a popular genus among Victoria gardeners. The University decided to move many of the rhododendrons to the campus where they would form the nucleus of a new garden that was created on nearly three acres of land at the south end of the campus. The collection now includes more than 200 rhododendron species and azaleas along with an extensive planting of hybrids, most of them of early origin. The accession list includes about 1,600 entries for trees and shrubs. All are catalogued and identified by a number that refers to a master list, which is available. For more information visit www.victoria.tc.ca/Environment/UVicGdnFriends/.
Victoria’s Hanging Flower Baskets
The placement of over 1,000 hanging flower baskets on Victoria’s lampposts at the beginning of June has signaled the start of summer in British Columbia’s capital city for over 65 years. In 2004, the program will grow to see an additional 500 baskets adorn downtown Victoria. First introduced to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victoria’s incorporation, the baskets are now a trademark of the city recognized around the world. Plants for the baskets are grown in the City of Victoria Nursery, located in the southeast corner of Victoria’s beloved Beacon Hill Park. In the first week of May, a crew of six gardeners begins construction of the baskets. Nine different varieties of plants are used to make the traditional Victoria “sun basket” and a total of 25 plants are in each hanging basket. “Shade baskets” are also created using impatiens and rhodochiton. Baskets are watered by two drivers in specially-designed watering trucks each night between 11:00 pm and 7:30 am. The hanging flower baskets remain on lampposts until mid-September. For more information visit www.city.victoria.bc.ca.
Hatley Park Gardens
Hatley Park is located in Colwood, a suburb of Victoria, enroute to the community of Sooke. Hatley Park is the location of Hatley Castle and Royal Roads University. They are located on 140-acres of land leased from a 650-acre parcel of land owned by the Canadian Government. The gardens feature an Italian garden, Japanese garden and Rose garden and are surrounded by an urban forest containing elements of all biotic zones of Vancouver Island except alpine and coastal rainforest. The campus area borders on a saltwater lagoon, which is a bird and wildlife sanctuary. From most parts of the grounds and gardens, it is possible to look across the Strait of Juan de Fuca towards the Olympic Mountains of Washington State.
The entire property in its present form was once the private estate of James Dunsmuir, at one time one of the wealthiest individuals on the Pacific coast of North America. The gardens at Hatley Park feature a wide variety of plants and plantings, from formal to esoteric to naturalistic. Visitors are provided with a representation of plants that may be grown with little effort, but may not necessarily be readily available in most garden centres and nurseries. The gardens also contain a large number of 100 plus year-old trees, both native and non-native, as focal points throughout the gardens. For more information visit www.hatleygardens.com.
Government House Gardens
Government House is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia located in the historic Rockland district. The estate has belonged to the people of British Columbia since 1865 when Arthur Kennedy, then Governor, took up residence there. In 1871, with the entry of British Columbia into Confederation, the property became the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor. The grounds consist of 14.2 hectares (35.6 acres) of which 5.7 hectares (14 acres) are ornamental gardens. The remainder is Garry Oak woodland, a unique example of the Garry Oak ecosystem native to Southeast Vancouver Island. The grounds enjoy ocean and mountain views and are home to over 20 different gardens ranging from an English country garden, to a winter garden, to a British Columbia native plant garden. The gardens are open to the public and free of charge. For more information visit www.ltgov.bc.ca.
Royal British Columbia Museum Native Plant Garden
The native plant gardens surrounding the Royal BC Museum provide a setting for interpretative programs in plant identification, use and ecology. Over 350 indigenous species from all over BC are featured. The specimens also supply material for botanical research. This outdoor display adds a living dimension to the natural history exhibits in the Museum's galleries. The Native Plant Garden was established when the Museum moved into its present location in 1968. Museum botanists collected plants from around the province for the gardens and many of the plants are grown in beds from three vegetation zones in British Columbia: Coast Forest, Dry Interior and Alpine. Guided tours lasting one hour are given during the summer, and special interest tours can be arranged. For more information visit www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/notes/gardens.html.
Victorian Garden Tours
Victorian Garden Tours offers year-round, guided and narrated tours of Victoria’s private and public gardens. Customized tours are available for one to six people. Complimentary transportation is provided in a 6-passenger van including pick-up and drop-off. Tours include Hatley Park Garden, Saxe Point Park/Point Ellice House, Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, Ravenhill Herb Farm and the Government House Gardens. With advance notice, Victorian Garden Tours are pleased to adapt tours for larger groups and to meet special group interests. For more information visit www.victoriangardentours.com.
Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary
Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary has two distinct ecological areas including 47-hectares of fields and hedgerows surrounding Swan Lake and 11-hectares of rocky hilltop with a Garry oak forest on Christmas Hill. This lovely park offers walking trails, a floating boardwalk, two wharves and ample opportunities to examine wildflowers and plants, watch for birds and view wildlife such as river otters, muskrats and basking turtles. The nature house features displays and special programs and events year-round, as well as trail guides and bird checklists. For more information visit www.swanlake.bc.ca.
Beacon Hill Park
Beautifully situated on the edge of the downtown district beside the waters of Juan de Fuca Strait, 175-acre Beacon Hill Park is Victoria’s oldest park. Beacon Hill Park has been a centre of family activity since 1882. There are walking paths through landscaped gardens and wooded paths, past quiet ponds populated by swans and ducks. Beacon Hill boasts formal gardens year-round, but the wild daffodils that dot the lawns to mark the beginning of spring are the delight of residents and visitors. Cricket, lawn bowling, tennis, soccer and baseball are all played within the park. A children’s petting zoo and a bandshell for musical and theatrical entertainment are also popular attractions. Mile Zero, the starting point of the 8000-kilometre Trans-Canada Highway is situated at the Southwest tip.
G.A. Vantreight & Sons
Located north of Victoria, this flower and plant growing nursery has been in operation since 1884 and is Canada’s largest bulk flower production area. Main items grown include daffodils, tulips, irises and many varieties of lilies. Flower picking time is March and April when the staff increases to over 850 people. Viewing is free with the best time to visit in mid-May. Reservations are required one week in advance. For more information visit www.daffodil.com.
Lavender Harvest
Happy Valley Herbs is home to demonstration gardens featuring culinary, landscaping, craft, medicinal and exotic herbs. For a touch of Provence, they have planted 1,000 lavender plants that ripple into a sea of purple haze in early July. Each July, Happy Valley Herbs opens the farm to the public for two weekends to view the lavender fields before the harvest. With the exception of the lavender field viewing and harvest, farm visits are by appointment only, minimum party number is four people. For more information visit www.vvv.com/~gardenmall/hapval.html.
‘Chosin Pottery Studio and Gallery
‘Chosin Pottery Studio is owned and operated by award-winning, internationally known ceramic artists Robin Hopper and Judi Dyelle. It is located in Metchosin, a 30-minute drive from Victoria. Situated on six acres, it houses two studios, a gallery and showroom. The studio is set in the beautiful award-winning, Japanese-inspired garden of a renovated heritage house dating from the turn of the century. The grounds contain one of the finest stands of first-growth Douglas fir in the Victoria area. The huge fir trees are underplanted with many large rhododendrons, shrubs, perennials and bulbs, both indigenous and exotic. The Gallery, overlooking the water garden, has a continually changing variety of works.
Milner Gardens & Woodland
This is a public garden in Qualicum Beach owned by Malaspina University. The gardens consist of ten acres of gardens and 60 acres of woodland surrounding a gabled, heritage house. This exquisite estate offers students and the public an opportunity to experience a large, established garden of singular charm and artistic and historical significance. Members of the Royal Family have stayed at the estate and have planted trees to commemorate their visits. The garden features plants from the temperate zones of the world including a unique collection of over 500 rhododendrons and an intrepretive trail through the old growth forest. The house is available for meetings. Milner Gardens is open to the public for self guided tours. There is a daily limit of 200 guests and reservations are recommended. For more information visit www.milnergardens.mala.bc.ca.
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