A quick catch-up on my part, as we dashed home for a couple weeks to attend a wedding and a memorial. Now we are back on board and back to chronicling life on Independence II.

About 50 years since I visited the gardens!

Jennie & Robert Butchart (photo courtesy Google search)

I have to echo the Captain’s sentiments on the beauty of Butchart Gardens. I had been as child and was thinking if you had seen it once why go again? I was very wrong…go again! Appreciating the history of the gardens, this time around, was a particular pleasure. Robert and Jennie Butchart moved to Vancouver Island in 1904 and built a cement plant on the impressive limestone deposit at Tod Inlet (Brentwood Bay). By 1912 the deposits dwindled and Jennie began to implement her grand vision for turning the quarry into the Sunken Garden. The soil for the gardens was brought to the quarry by horse and cart. As 1930 rounded the corner so did plans for the Japanese Garden, the Italian Garden and the Rose Garden. In 1939 Robert & Jennie gifted the gardens to their grandson, Ian Ross, who then implemented night lighting and evening summer concerts. In the ‘70’s great-grandson, Christopher, started the firework shows and his sister, Robin, became the current owner. She added the Children’s Pavilion and the Menagerie Carousel. What a proud family story to have. A true testament to the history and respect for what their Great Grandparents began over 100 years ago. Now the Butchart Gardens is on the National Historic Site of Canada.

The site of the original quarry - now Sunken Garden created by Jennie’s vision and previous workers from the cement plant.. Jennie did hang from a bosun’s chair to plant ivy in the crevices of the rock walls.

The quarry floor was sealed and filled with water from a natural spring to form the lake. Mr. Butchart stocked the pool with trout and when he would clap his hands they would come to the surface to be fed. Grandson, Ian Ross, devised the fountain with the help of his plumber, Adrian Butler, and his electrician, Vic Dawson. The fountain celebrated the gardens’ 60th anniversary in 1964.

This crumbling smoke stack (in the distance) is all that is left of the old Cement Factory

No end to the beauty. Some gardens are very formally arranged and some are more wild, like these.

Looking back at an one of the entrances to the Japanese Gardens

From Brentwood Bay we enjoy a sunny Sunday at Sidney, where the music in the park packs the grass and every bench available.

Our final stop in British Columbia, Canada is at Van Isle Marina.