Butchart Gardens in early June

For many garden lovers, Victoria, British Columbia is synonymous with Butchart Gardens. With over a million visitors per year, it’s one of the biggest horticultural attractions in North America and routinely included in global “best of” lists.

As beloved Butchart Gardens may be, it has its share of detractors. It’s often compared to Disneyland because of its emphasis on high drama and (floral) perfection. As is the case at Disneyland, every facet of the operation is tightly controlled and managed, resulting in what some perceive as artifice and sterility. Of course similar comments are made about many highly popular attractions so they may involve a dose of snobbishness and envy.

Personally, I’d compare Butchart Gardens to Andrew Lloyd Webber, ABBA, or Cadbury Creme Eggs. Whether you like them or not, they cannot be denied. Me, I’ve given up trying to resist the siren call. I visit Butchart Gardens every time I’m in Victoria, and I let myself be seduced by the over-the-top spectacle coming at you on all sides. Maybe it’s the horticultural equivalent of Stockholm syndrome.

I was excited like a kid in a candy store when I spotted this planting of Himalayan blue poppies (Meconopsis sp.) right in the entrance plaza:

I’ve wanted to see Himalayan blue poppies in person for as long as I can remember. I finally struck gold when I saw a few individual plants at Fraser’s Thimble Farm on Salt Spring Island, as mentioned in this post. The plantings at Butchart Gardens were far more extensive, though. You’ll see more blue poppies in the Japanese Garden towards the bottom of this post.

Himalayan blue poppies (Meconopsis sp.) thrive in cool-summer climates and need rich, moist soil. Think British Columbia, Alaska, Scotland, Iceland, etc. Not on that list? California!

Another plant that’s common in cooler climates with plenty of rainfall is the golden chain tree (Laburnum anagyroides). I don’t think I’ve ever seen one where I live.

One my favorite areas at Butchart Gardens is the Sunken Garden, five acres in size and consisting of 151 individual beds and a mound in the center accessible via a staircase. It’s located on the site of the Butcharts’ former limestone quarry and took nine years to build (1912-1921), with soil being hauled in on horse-drawn carts. If you ignore the flower beds filled with annuals, the Sunken Garden is a masterpiece of thoughtfully layered textures and leaf colors.

All the color in this photo is from foliage

Redwood path on top of the Sunken Garden:

Vignettes from other gardens:

One of several large monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana)

Persicaria virginiana ‘Painter’s Palette’

Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’) and Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum)

Hostas and candelabra primroses (Primula bulleyana), with a few Meconopsis lurking in the background

One of countless irises

If the Himalayan blue poppy was my bucket-list plant of this visit, the peony was my trip-down-memory-lane flower. My mother had a large red double peony in our front yard when I was a kid. It looked just like this:

Peonies don’t grow in the Sacramento Valley where I live now—it’s just too hot and dry—and I hadn’t seen any in many years. While the red one above is lovely, the two below are even more beautiful:

Designed by Isaburo Kishida, the one-acre Japanese Garden was one of the earliest gardens to be created on the Butchart estate (1909). Featuring mature trees, 600 ft. of flowing streams, and several bridges, it’s a tranquil sanctuary even on a busy day. For some reason, most visitors don’t spend much time there—maybe because it’s primarily trees and shrubs instead of flowering plants. It’s my favorite spot at Butchart Gardens:

This time, the Himalayan blue poppies were still in bloom, adding a striking contrast I’d never seen before.

In the photo below, the wooden fence on the right marks the boundary of the quiet and serene Japanese Garden; on the other side of the concrete wall is the loud and boisterous Italian Garden:

Colorful plantings in the Italian Garden:

Impatiens and elephant ears, who would have thought!

Even the garbage cans sport attractive plantings:

Generally, I’m not a fan of traditional bedding plants. But say what you will, the gardeners at Butchart know how to create striking tapestries:

Speaking of gardeners, hats off to them. They are the glue that holds it all together. As I mentioned earlier, Butchart Gardens employs about 50 full-time and 20 seasonal gardeners. They were out in full force when I visited on June 13, 2022. Here are some photos showing them hard at work:

With half a dozen people working on any given area at the same time, progress comes fast and furious.

Look at that fertile loam! No wonder plants grow so well.

Few people would want to be photographed like this, but it’s such a classic body position that it should be celebrated as the stance of a hard-working gardener!

Greenhouse-grown plants waiting to be put in the ground:

I saw a few areas that were clearly ready for replanting. I bet if I went back today, just a week after my visit, this bed would look different already:

There aren’t a lot of succulents at Butchart Gardens, but I spotted the Agave americana below just off the parking lot. Proof that there truly is an agave somewhere, always.

For more background on the history of Butchart Gardens, check out my 2015 post.

RELATED POSTS:

• Victoria, BC: green, cool, dazzling (June 2022)
• Butchart Gardens on the cusp of spring (April 2017)
• More Butchart Gardens flower power—and a dose of Japanese tranquility (September 2016)
• Succulents at Butchart Gardens—and bananas and more (September 2016)
• Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC (July 2015)

© Gerhard Bock, 2022. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.