Butchart Gardens – one million plants create a colour explosion!

Butchart Gardens, Victoria BC on Vancouver Island has 900 varieties of plants with one million planted!  Do you feel like a wander through this world famous “must-see oasis” that took over 100 years to create?

Follow me…..you won’t be disappointed.

Location of Butchart Gardens

Landing in Vancouver on our way up to Alaska in 2017 we stayed an extra three nights with plans to visit both the Butchart Gardens and Butterfly Gardens on the one day. (Why not visit the link to read the separate post on the Butterfly Gardens).

For Australians heading to the west side of the USA, Vancouver is a general stopover.  If possible, take the advantage to enjoy this amazing city plus Victoria on Vancouver Island.   Chances are you might never get back – we all know how LONG those 14 hour flights are!

 have a range of ways to get you over to Victoria.  Why not fly back to Vancouver…and apparently it’s really worth the extra dollars.

We purchased a combo ticket to Butchart Gardens from Grayline Ho-On-Hop-Off tours that included pick-up from our Fairmount Hotel in Vancouver, return ferry ride to Victoria and shuttle bus from the ferry to both the gardens  and the Butterfly Gardens.

Grayline have a range of ways to get you over to Victoria.  Why not fly back from the Island to Vancouver – apparently it’s really worth the extra dollars.

But…Back to Butchart Gardens:

Every garden lover in the world needs to visit this world famous colourful spectacular in Victoria, British Columbia.  But…in case you can’t make it – keep scrolling down for photos.

First… just a few snippets of interesting information to really get your imagination into overdrive:

The gardens have:

1          55 Acres and 50 gardeners

2          Different displays for every season (we were there in autumn, and totallt spellbound)

3          300,000 brilliantly coloured bulbs pop out of the ground in spring!

4          26 greenhouses

5          1 million plants of some 900 varieties

6          Garden displays from all over the world such as the:

• Sunken Garden
• Rose Garden
• Japanese Garden
• Italian Garden

7          A carousel ride

8          Fountains and a Star Pond

10        Night illuminations, when 3,000 lights gently illuminate the flowers and foliage –  similar to the “Field of Lights” at Uhluru in Outback Australia. 

11        Restaurant and café. (When needing a well-earned break from walking around 100 acres!)

Butchart Gardens – 100 years in the making.

Robert and Jennie Butchart (husband and wife) moved to Vacouver Island from Ontario in 1904.  The reason for the move was to build a cement plant on a rich limestone deposit at Tod Inlet, Victoria. (Another little gem if you get time to visit after the gardens).

In 1912 the limestone deposits were finished and Jennie, a passionate gardener, dreamt of a grand garden in its place.  Little by little she began moving top soil by horse and cart and gradually the quarry blossomed into today’s Sunken Garden.

The iconic Butchart Gardens have been handed down from generation to generation and are continually improved and today they are a National Historic Site of Canada.

Maybe this information will be of more interest to those travelling at 50 plus, but whatever your age you will be gobsmacked by this manmade floral wonder.

Next stop the Butterfly Gardens!

Handy to Know: 

• Admission – varies between autumn, summer, winter, spring and Christmas, and an adult ranges from $21.50 – to $33.10 over these times. A visit to the website is a must for accuracy.
• Opening hours vary throughout the year but are basically from 10 am 4 pm. (Open every day except Christmas).
• For more in depth information, visit – butchartgardens.com
• Grayline buses have a bus shuttle service, that includes the return ferry ride and entry to both gardens.
• Allow at least three hours to walk through and enjoy all aspects of the Gardens (with a coffee stop in between).