Flower Children

When anyone visits me, I like to reveal as many of my favorite places as time allows. Friend Linda was here for two weeks, and I couldn’t let her leave without riding the Washington State Ferries through the San Juan Islands and visiting British Columbia’s Butchart Gardens. We two flower children combined activities for a sunny one-day outing, leaving from Anacortes and docking at Sydney.

The line through Canadian customs moved quickly, using our driver’s license identification. By the end of 2007, we’ll need passports. We boarded a red double-decker Gray Line tour bus with combined tickets to Butchart Gardens, Victoria, and a return to Sydney for ferry departure. The driver gave us the usual spiel: “Vancouver Island is the western end of the Trans-Canada Highway, 4,860 miles from St. Johns, Newfoundland.” It was neat to know I had been to the other end as well. He added, “We are traveling 38 miles an hour, cruising at an altitude of 14 feet.”

It was explained to me previously that the lovely mild weather they experience both winter and summer makes Vancouver Island a Mecca for the “newly wed and the nearly dead.” I’m not sure where that put Linda and me. We’ve both given up on “newly wed” and after all our activity over two weeks, I wasn’t sure whether we were “nearly dead” or just exhausted.

As we arrived at Butchart Gardens, the driver offered the required threat: “People who pick flowers now fertilize these beautiful gardens.” In other words if we so much as snapped a dragon or lopped a lupine, we’d be pushin’ up daisies faster than you could say Calceolaria integrifolia. We watched our sweet peas and Qs.

Hiding the Quarry
Robert Butchart was a pioneer in Portland cement manufacturing in Canada. In 1904, he purchased 125 limestone waterfront acres. By 1928, the limestone required for making cement ran out. Mrs. Butchart, not pleased with the barren quarry next to her beautiful home, began a lifelong project of creating magnificent gardens, now covering 55 acres. She and Robert were world travelers and over the years brought 1,250 flower species home from all over the world.

Everything is handily but unobtrusively signed, and you are given excellent maps and flower guides so you know exactly where you are and the kinds of flowers you are viewing. In three visits it would be hard to name a favorite garden but the Sunken Gardens are hard to beat. The panoramic view from 50 feet above this section is spectacular. Progressing to the quarry floor, we followed paths lined with colorful flowerbeds, plants and trees. In the middle, steps take you on top of a huge rock mound to view more gardens and Quarry Lake, created in a limestone pocket. Statuary, ponds, and small fountains add charm to each little nook and cranny.

At the far end of Sunken Gardens is the Ross Fountain that flings water 70 feet into the air in various dancing sequences. It must be spectacular at night, illuminated by colored lights. This is probably also a favorite area because of its ice cream and coffee stand. Several places offer ice cream and coffee, and eventually we succumbed to Linda’s ice cream addiction. I only ate it to keep her company. Four restrooms are positioned throughout the grounds, and resting places dot the gardens for enjoying the moment.

Beyond the Concert Lawn & Stage and the Totem Poles is the Japanese Garden. Through a Japanese torii gate, steps direct you downward along a stream with bridges leading to reflecting pools. A platform overlooks Butchart Cove and the Saanich Inlet. The scene is so perfect it looks very much like a Japanese silk painting.

Covered rose arches lead into the Rose Garden, where signs identify their country of origin. The long narrow Italian Garden was formerly a tennis court. It runs the length of the house, which originally contained a bowling alley.

This leads to The Dining Room Restaurant in the Butchart home. This can be either a fine dining event or afternoon tea. The Blue Poppy Restaurant offers cafeteria fare in a flower-filled setting. A Visitor Center has the usual, plus mailbox and stamps, telephones and an area for renting strollers, wheelchairs, dog leashes and umbrellas. The Plant Identification Centre is unique with a staff to answer horticultural questions. The Seed and Gift Store completes the picture with hand-packaged seeds, a tradition started by the Butchart Gardens staff in the 1920s.

Making Time Count
Considering the numbers of visitors, it is a pleasant, peaceful walk through the gardens. Although it is best to spend as much time as you can, and by all means include an evening in your visit if possible, our schedule allowed us two hours and we went swiftly through all the gardens. The gardens are illuminated until 10:30 p.m. from June 15 through September 30, and at varying times the rest of the year. Saturday fireworks and other evening outdoor performances are scheduled throughout the summer.

The answer to not having enough time is planning ahead with package deals for overnighting and seeing the delights of Victoria as well. We went into Victoria for a wharf, Chinatown, Sunday Market and Market Street tour by Pedicab, but again, it wasn’t nearly enough time. I hope that Linda’s taste of Butchart Gardens, Victoria and the San Juan Islands will bring her back for another visit.

Washington State Ferries are seldom off schedule but our return trip was really out of whack. We arrived at Bay View State Park two hours beyond curfew. Linda walked up as cool as a cucumber and forced those gates open so I could drive through. Sometimes you just don’t know people.

As we speak, I am on my way back to Sydney with George. At a later time, I’ll tell you about our RV trip and what I’m guessing will be a fascinating tour around British Columbia’s Vancouver Island.

God Bless.