{"id":23343,"date":"2010-04-14T18:46:21","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T01:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travelswithmiranda.uskeba.ca\/?p=5951"},"modified":"2016-09-14T20:31:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T17:31:56","slug":"butchart-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/butchart-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Butchart Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Butchart Gardens<\/a> is probably the best known Victoria attraction. They were planted in the early 20th century in what used to be a limestone quarry. While this sounded ‘nice’, I knew it would not be my best use of nearly $30, so I was going to skip it, but Mrs. H insisted on taking me there.<\/p>\n

We had a wonderful time and I greatly enjoyed myself, more than I would have had I gone on my own since Mrs. H was able to tell\u00a0 the names of a lot of the flowers.<\/p>\n

My favourite gardens were the Japanese and the Sunken and my least favourite was the Italian. I like Japanese gardens because they feel very natural for all their formality, with soft ground covers, ponds with bridges, and rocky paths. The Sunken Garden was a formidable feat of horticulture; transforming the lunar landscape of a limestone query into a Technicolour world straight out of a fantasy. I don’t like Italian gardens because they are too stiff and formal, very hard with stone underfoot and statues all around.<\/p>\n

These are the best pictures I took:<\/p>\n

\"CIMG0252\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mediterranean<\/a>

Mediterranean garden<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Mediterranean<\/a>

Mediterranean garden<\/p><\/div>\n

\"angeliques<\/a>

angeliques (type of tulip)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0084\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0085\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0086\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0087\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0089\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"trillium<\/a>

trillium (the provincial flower of Ontario)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"the<\/a>

the snail fountain<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0092\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"forget-me-nots\"<\/a>

forget-me-nots<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0096\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0097\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"you<\/a>

you walk along this dark path only to emerge…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"in<\/a>

in a whole new world! I was *awed*!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0101\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"camelias\"<\/a>

camelias<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0106\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0107\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0108\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"this<\/a>

this chimney is all that is left of the cement factory that used to be on the property<\/p><\/div>\n

\"camelias\"<\/a>

camelias<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0114\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0115\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0116\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0117\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0119\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0120\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0121\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0122\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0123\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0125\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0126\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0129\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0130\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0131\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0133\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0134\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"pansies\"<\/a>

pansies<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0137\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0138\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0139\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0141\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0142\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0143\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0144\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"these<\/a>

these are wire animals covered with moss<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0146\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"checkered<\/a>

checkered or snake lilies; the petals have a snakeskin pattern<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0148\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"more<\/a>

more moss-covered wire animals<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0151\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0152\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"hyacinthes\"<\/a>

hyacinthes<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0154\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>

a moss-covered wire frog<\/p><\/div>\n

\"English<\/a>

English daisies<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0158\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0161\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0164\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0165\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0166\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"seed<\/a>

seed field<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0168\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0169\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0170\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0171\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"look<\/a>

look closely; this yellow tulip has a red petal!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0173\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0174\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0175\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0177\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0178\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0179\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>

the frog fountain<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0182\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0183\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"approaching<\/a>

approaching the entrance to the Japanese garden<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0186\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"sturgeon<\/a>

sturgeon fountain<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0189\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0190\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0191\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0193\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>

the two ravens were breaking off twigs to build their nest<\/p><\/div>\n

\"these<\/a>

these lamps made me smile<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0199\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"moss-covered<\/a>

moss-covered ground<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0201\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>

a wall of bamboo<\/p><\/div>\n

\"bamboo<\/a>

bamboo walkway<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0205\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0206\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Butchart<\/a>

Butchart Cove<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0209\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0210\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0211\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0214\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0218\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"crane<\/a>

crane fountain<\/p><\/div>\n

\"magnolias\"<\/a>

magnolias<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0223\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0224\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"another<\/a>

another frog fountain, this time at the star pond<\/p><\/div>\n

\"star<\/a>

star pond<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0228\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0230\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0232\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mr.<\/a>

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard taking a nap in the star pond<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0235\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"entrance<\/a>

entrance to the Italian garden<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Italian<\/a>

Italian garden<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CIMG0238\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0242\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0244\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0245\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0246\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0247\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0248\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CIMG0251\"<\/a>
\nVisiting Butchart Gardens was a pleasant way to wile away a few hours, but it still feels way overpriced to me, impressed as I was by the way the old quarry was completely transformed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Butchart Gardens is probably the best known Victoria attraction. They were planted in the early 20th century in what used to be a limestone quarry. While this sounded ‘nice’, I knew it would not be my best use of nearly $30, so I was going to skip it, but Mrs. H insisted on taking me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1442,632,635,5,3,1416],"tags":[802,707],"class_list":["post-23343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-britishcolumbia","category-canada","category-north-america","category-rving","category-travel","category-victoria-vancouver-island-bc-canada-travel","tag-parksgardens","tag-statuesmonuments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}