Butchart Garden Fountain Victoria

Robert Pim Butchart moved his cement production business from Ontario to Tod Inlet near Victoria BC in 1904. The limestone deposits became worked out of the quarry near their home within a few years. One tall chimney from the old kiln can still be seen, remaining from the business which closed in 1916. His wife Jennie saw the potential to create a garden in the abandonned quarry so had top soil brought in by horse and cart; an enormous undertaking not completed until 1921. The family archives even has a photograph of her suspended in a bosun's chair planting into the high rockface. This, the spectacular Sunken Garden, was followed by the Japanese Garden in 1906 designed by Isaburo Kishida, an Italian Garden, and in 1929 the Rose Garden with over 100 varieties of hybrid tea rose plants alongside 400 grandiflora roses and climbing roses.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Butchart
• Garden