The Butchart Gardens

There is a well-known garden in Victoria, Canada, which is the Butchart Garden. Butchart Gardens is a family garden that, through the hard work of several generations, has become the second largest garden in the world. The Butchart Garden is very large and is divided into a comprehensive service area, a sunken garden (Sunken Garden), a rose garden, a Japanese garden, an Italian garden and a Mediterranean garden. Well-maintained lawns and paths connect these five gardens. A visitor's guide page is included with the ticket purchase, to avoid repeating walks, you can study the visitor's guide before visiting. The general service area is the starting point for a tour of the gardens, and in a perimeter called the Waterwheel Square is the Visitor Service Center, which also houses seed and gift shops, as well as cafés and restaurants. From here to the north through Snail Pond is the Show Greenhouse built by Mr. Butchart. In winter, the flower house displays the flowers and exquisite gardening to visitors. On the right side of the flower house is the small square outside the former residence of the Butchart family. There are some bronze statues of small animals, ponies, lambs, and frogs lying on lotus leaves. There is also a slightly larger statue of a pig named Taka Ye, whose nose is very brightly touched by thousands of tourists who believe that stroking Taka's nose will bring good luck. On the pillars on the slope around the square, roses can be seen spreading and blooming in summer, and the branches are hanging down. A little further on, there are trellises hung with flower baskets, where Mr. Butchart has set up an ornate birdhouse for his collection of rare kiwis. I saw the small animals in the square come to the former residence of the Butchart family. It's two connected houses, with green roofs and white lattice windows, giving it a warm and homey feel. The interior of the house is arranged as the Butchart couple lived, and many Chinese elements can be seen in the living room and the corridor facing the Italian garden. Carved mahogany furniture, high-neck blue-and-white porcelain vases, and Chinese lanterns hanging in the hallway. The former residence is surrounded by white lattice fences around Mrs. Butchart's private garden. This garden has remained the same as when she was alive, and it is a part of the garden that has never been opened to the public. Walk south along a winding path, and walk down dozens of stone stairs to the sunken garden. Please pay attention to the concrete handrails imitating oak. The sunken garden can no longer be seen as a mine pit, and it is more like entering a deep canyon. Walking on the rock-paved path, you can see a pair of carefully trimmed arborvitae on both sides, which were planted by Mrs. Butchart herself more than 100 years ago. The bottom of the canyon is covered with various geometric flower beds, and the viewing platform built with rocks in the middle is as high as the surrounding cliffs, and the viewing platform can get a panoramic view of the garden. There are several lakes of different sizes in the garden, which are connected by a meandering stream, and continue along the path on the left side of the lake to Ross Fountain (Ross Fountain). It was built in 1964 by the Butcharts' grandson, Ian Ross, for the garden's 60th anniversary. The water column of the fountain is as high as 21 meters, spouting day and night, showing a gorgeous appearance. From here, a concrete slope extends upwards, and the top slope is an expansive lawn that serves as a viewing area for summer fireworks displays. On the left is the bronze horse "Annabelle", which is one of the collections in the park. In the back is the children's playground and the rose carousel. You can see that there are 30 hand-carved wooden animals and two carousel on the carousel. chariot. Further out on the lawn are two towering monumental Totem Poles, created by two prominent Aboriginal artists from the area over the summer for the Butchart family's 100th anniversary. Next to the totem pole is the Fireworks Viewing Area, where thousands of tourists come to enjoy the spectacular fireworks show on Saturday nights in July and August every year. Continue forward, pass the Organ Pavilion, and follow the flower path under the flower trellis on the left of the Concert Lawn, and you will come to the Rose Garden. The flower beds here are symmetrical, with a total of 6,600 trimmed roses neatly arranged in the flower beds, each marked with the name, country of origin and year of registration with the American Association. July and August are beautiful times for rose gardens. After that, you will pass the carp fountain, continue to walk forward, pass through a red Japanese-style torii gate, and walk down the steps to enter the Japanese garden. In the Japanese Garden, there are some Japanese-style bamboo pavilions, stone-carved lamp sockets, and stone prayer buildings. The creek is framed by a small bridge with Japanese characteristics of red wooden grille. The plants here are trimmed in the style of Japanese gardening, either round or square or cylindrical. Pine and cypress trees are trimmed into clouds, like large bonsai. The style of the garden is pure and natural, full of Buddhist Zen. In late spring, Himalayan blue poppies bloom everywhere here and have become a feature of Japanese gardens. From the path under the bamboo arches, you can reach the small pier on the edge of Todd Bay, where visitors can take electric boats to explore Todd Bay. The Bay Pier is open seasonally, and there are some water entertainment options here in the summer. Port related information can be found on the official website. After coming out of the Japanese Garden, climb a small slope along the stone stairs and come to the Star Pond. It was originally designed for Mr. Butchart's ornamental ducks. Colorful annual flowers are planted in the flower bed between the star horns. There are six bronze frogs squatting on the round platform in the center of the star pond. The water column is sprayed in different directions from the frog's mouth, so the star pond is also called the frog fountain. From Xingchi to the south through the round arch under the plant wall to the Italian Garden, which used to be a tennis court. There is a bronze statue of God Mercury in the middle of the entrance of the arch, and there is a cross-shaped pool in the garden, which is flanked by symmetrical flower beds. Every year, Butchart Gardens imports tulip bulbs from the Netherlands, where they are planted in spring. White or purple rosemary sets off the slender tulip flowers, which are very charming. The long and narrow building to the left of the garden used to be a bowling alley and is now a seasonal ice cream parlour, providing shade for visitors. From the passage below the bowling alley, we returned to the Water Wheel Square. Walking out of the water wheel square, walking under the beautiful laburnum arch shed, the dangling golden flowers bloom in late spring, and then came to the latter garden - the Mediterranean Garden. This garden is a good example of the mild climate of the region, with a collection of drought-tolerant flowers from all over the world that grow in conditions similar to those in the local area. After the tour, you can go back to the parking lot.