Today’s adventure is a little different. It is the start of travels with Ryuu-chan, and Dragon-kun.
Usagi-chan may make a few appearances, but she said she will definitely be back in 12 years.
I was so excited about Ryuu and Dragon joining me on my walk around Butchart Gardens that I forgot to set my Fitbit to record the walk…so I’m not sure the distance.
Butchart Gardens is wheelchair and family friendly, there are lots of places to sit and enjoy the gardens… although today being rainy… maybe not so much with the sitting.
The Gardens was a limestone quarry which supplied limestone to the Portland cement plant. (Both quarry and cement plant were owned by the Butchart family). The garden was the idea of Jennie Butchart (wife of cement and quarry owner -Robert Pim Butchart)
In 1904, Jennie Butchart took the abandoned quarry and started turning it into the Sunken Garden. (The Sunken Gardens is signature garden – it is on all the postcards for the Gardens).
Ross Fountain Lookout was a smaller quarry and turned into the fountains in 1964.
The Bog Garden usually has giant ferns in the summer months and it looks prehistoric. Ryuu and Dragon were disappointed not to see the ferns as it reminds them of their dinosaur ancestry, but they were happy to see the moss.
Ryuu-chan and Dragon-kun liked watching the Carousel but didn’t want to ride on something that went round in circles, so opted for a photo on the sculpture of the carousel horse at the base of the building that houses the Carousel.
The Dragon Fountain is a gift from the People’s Republic of China and Victoria’s sister City, Suzhou to Butchart Gardens.
If you read last week’s post you’ll see that Victoria has many sister cities…well okay… maybe just two… I am finding out about these sister cities as I walk.
We walked through the rose garden…again wrong time of year.
The Japanese garden was started in 1906 and designed by the Japanese landscape artist, Isaburo Kishida.
The last bunch of photos are in what is usually the Blue Poppy Restaurant, but at the moment is the Spring Prelude exhibit.
If you are think of visiting the gardens here is some information:
Ticket price: $30.70 (Adult)
22K from downtown Victoria (BC Transit does have buses that go to the Gardens)
KotsuKotsuLife 