BUTCHART GARDENS--in British Columbia--one of my favorite places and one of the most beautiful places on earth

As I mentioned a few days ago in an earlier blog (see THE HIGHEST TIDE at http://markgsmusings.blogspot.com/2009/07/great-book-i-just-highest-tide-starfish.html ) I've had Saltspring on my mind recently. Saltspring is one of the southern Gulf Islands in British Columbia, just off Vancouver Island where in years past we've spent vacations.

While the entire region of British Columbia is some of the most spectacularly gorgeous scenery in the world, there is one place that is just so special: Butchart Gardens. Butchart Gardens is located on Vancouver Island. The fun part about going to the Gulf Islands is taking the ferries (:)) to visit the various islands. It is spectacular to sit outside on the ferry and watch the beautiful territory and observe the wildlife and sea life. We've seen killer whales and other whales amongst many.

So you take a ferry (BC Ferries) from the island you're staying on. I think the ferry rides are just about the best. The size of the ferries varies. The ferry from Vancouver (from Tsawwassen) is usually gigantic and holds hundreds of cars and trucks. There are small ferries that you take interisland, but they all carry vehicles. One of my favorite memories of the Gulf Islands was our first trip. We were traveling from Vancouver to Saltspring and going through a very beautiful place between two islands. I think it is called Deception Pass. Anyway they had a bagpipe player aboard who played the bagpipes while we passed through the pass. I started sobbing: it was just the most perfect moment in the world! I get goosebumps right now remembering.



I have to add that I LOVE riding fairies (oops, how Freudian of me....I meant ferries), I LOVE riding trains and subways. I would love to commute to work on a ferry the way BC'an's where you have time to read a newspaper, work a crossword puzzle, start a new novel, do some cross-stitching, or just sit and listen to your ipod. Subways and trains, and ferries, are just so fucking civilized, in my opinion. In Southern California none of these things exist. Southern California is very uncivilized this way (as opposed to Boston, Washington DC).

The thing about this whole region is that you never stop marveling at the sights. The beauty is pervasive and constant but you never stop being enthralled and awed by it. The summer in the Northwest is particularly spectacular because of the flowers and the flora and fauna. But the most spectacular, the piece de resistance, of gardens in the world is Butchart Gardens. The gardens are located on the 55-acre Butchart Family estate. Behold the majesty:












"Benvenuto, Italian for 'welcome', is the name the Butcharts used for their original estate, now a National Historic Site of Canada, and still privately owned by family descendants. The Butchart Gardens offers 22ha (55 acres) of wonderful floral display located in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island. The family's commitment to horticulture and hospitality continues to this day."

Here is the history from the Butchart Gardens website:
"In 1888, near his birthplace, Owen Sound, Ontario, the former dry goods merchant, Robert Pim Butchart, began manufacturing Portland cement. By the turn of the century he had become a highly successful pioneer in this burgeoning North American industry. Attracted to the West Coast of Canada by rich limestone deposits vital for cement production, he built a factory at Tod Inlet, on Vancouver Island. There, in 1904, he and his family established their home.

As Mr. Butchart exhausted the limestone in the quarry near their house, his enterprising wife, Jennie, conceived an unprecedented plan for refurbishing the bleak pit. From farmland nearby she requisitioned tons of top soil, had it brought to Tod Inlet by horse and cart, and used it to line the floor of the abandoned quarry. Little by little, under Jennie Butchart's supervision, the abandoned quarry blossomed into the spectacular Sunken Garden.

By 1908, reflecting their world travels, the Butcharts had created a Japanese Garden on the sea-side of their home. Later an Italian Garden was created on the site of their former tennis court, and a fine Rose Garden replaced a large kitchen vegetable patch in 1929.

Mr. Butchart took much pride in his wife's remarkable work. A great hobbyist, he collected ornamental birds from all over the world. He kept ducks in the Star Pond, noisy peacocks on the front lawn, and a curmudgeon of a parrot in the main house. He enjoyed training pigeons at the site of the present Begonia Bower, and had many elaborate bird houses stationed throughout Jennie's beautiful gardens.

The renown of Mrs. Butchart's gardening quickly spread. By the 1920s more than fifty thousand people came each year to see her creation. In a gesture toward all their visitors, the hospitable Butcharts christened their estate "Benvenuto", the Italian word for "Welcome". To extend the welcome, flowering cherry trees along Benvenuto Avenue leading to The Gardens were purchased from Yokohama Nursery in Japan and installed from West Saanich Road to The Butchart Gardens' entrance.

Their house grew into a comfortable, luxurious showplace, with a bowling alley, indoor salt-water swimming pool, panelled billiard room and a wonder of its age, a self-playing Aeolian pipe organ (still played on Firework Saturdays ). Today the residence contains the Dining Room Restaurant, offices, and rooms still used for family entertaining. From January 15 to March 15, a special re-creation of the family house is showcased.

The family tradition of acquiring objects when travelling has continued. The Fountain of the Three Sturgeons and the bronze casting of the wild boar are both from Florence, Italy. Both were purchased by Ian and Ann-Lee Ross in 1973. The fountain is a casting made from a much smaller fountain created by Professor Sirio Tofanari in 1958. Other works by him include the little donkey and the foal that stand close by the statue of the wild boar on the Piazza in front of the Butchart Residence. The boar is a rare bronze copy of a casting of the marble statue displayed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. This bronze known affectionally as "Tacca," in honour of Pietro Tacca, the artist who created the statue in 1620. His snout is finely burnished by thousands of visitors who give it an affectionate rub for good luck. Tacca is dedicated to all the children and dogs who visit The Gardens.

Each year over 1,000,000 bedding plants in some 700 varieties are used throughout the Gardens to ensure uninterrupted bloom from March through October. Close to a million people visit each year, enjoying not only the floral beauty, but the entertainment and lighting displays presented each summer and Christmas.

The only surviving portion of Mr. Butchart's Tod Inlet cement factory is the tall chimney of a long vanished kiln. The chimney can be seen from The Sunken Garden Lookout. The plant stopped manufacturing cement in 1916, but continued to make tiles and flower pots as late as 1950. The single chimney now overlooks the quarry Mrs. Butchart so miraculously reclaimed.

The Butchart Gardens remains a family business and has grown to become a premier West Coast display garden, while maintaining the gracious traditions of the past. Today the Gardens has established an international reputation for its year round display of flowering plants."

Here's a short video clip to watch

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Even though it's 116 (in Palm Desert where I live, not in BC) again today I can reminisce about days past on vacation in British Columbia and Butchart Gardens, riding the ferries, where life is cool and beautiful!