Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Up early for breakfast and to wait for the Westcoast Sightseeing tour bus to arrive at 7:30. We were on the Victoria + Butchart Gardens Tour. I had found that ferry bookings were full, and decided on a tour company to get us to Vancouver Island.
First the bus drove us the 45 minutes to Tsawwassen Terminal for the BC Ferries.
 |
Container facility at Point Robert,
the tip of the peninsula that belongs to the USA |
The bus boarded the Coastal Celebration ferry, and the passengers were let off to take advantage of the ship's amenities.
 |
| Brynne and Tamiko on the ferry (KSS) |
 |
| Other BC Ferries |
We had a 90-minute ferry ride across the Strait of Georgia towards Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island.
 |
| Traveling through the Gulf Islands |
 |
Portlock Point Lighthouse (1895, rebuilt 1987)
on Prevost Island |
 |
| Getting ready to board the bus again |
Once we arrived in Swartz Bay, the bus drove about 30 minutes to Brentwood Bay, and the Butchart Gardens. Since they were serving only breakfast on the ferry, we waited to have lunch at the Gardens.
 |
| Brynne and Kent at the Blue Poppy Restaurant |
Robert Pim Butchart developed a quarry and cement plant at Tod Inlet on Vancouver Island. His wife, Jennie, was the company's chemist. When the limestone deposits were exhausted, a gigantic pit was left. Jennie decided to create a garden in the pit, bringing in loads of top soil to create the Sunken Garden. From 1906 until 1929, the gardens continued to grow. They are still under the management of family.
 |
| Rambling rose trellises |
 |
Hanging baskets in the pavilion where
Mr Butchart once kept ornate houses for his
collection of exotic birds |
 |
| Fuchsia (KSS) |
 |
| Path to the Sunken Garden (KSS) |
 |
| Open-air log cabin |
 |
View of Sunken Garden with a kiln stack,
which is all that remains from the cement plant |
 |
| Photo of the quarry pit before the garden (KSS) |
 |
| Looking back at the stairs into the Sunken Garden |
 |
| The walls of the quarry are pretty well covered with plantings (KSS) |
 |
| The rock mound |
 |
| Quarry Lake as seen from the rock mound |
 |
| Mahonia or Berberis aquifolium/Oregon-grape (KSS) |
 |
| Kent descending from the rock mound |
 |
| Brynne and Tamiko at the base of the rock mound |
 |
| Dragonwing Begonia and Angelonia (KSS) |
 |
| Water lilies on Quarry Lake |
 |
| Lantana and black petunias |
 |
| Limestone quarry equipment |
 |
| Heliotrope and marigolds (KSS) |
 |
| Ross Fountain (1964, designed by grandson Ian Ross) |
 |
| Bog Garden |
 |
| Artemisia stelleriana and Verbascum (KSS) |
 |
Annabelle, the bronze carousel horse,
with the Rose Carousel in the background |
 |
| Hand-carved animals on the Rose Carousel |
 |
Totems created for the Garden's 100th anniversary
by artists of the Tsartlip and Tsawout First Nations |
 |
| Organ Pavilion for the Aeolian Pipe Organ |
 |
| Araucaria araucana/Monkey Puzzle Tree (KSS) |
 |
| Araucaria araucana/Monkey Puzzle Tree cones (KSS) |
 |
| Concert Lawn and Stage (KSS) |
 |
| Sequoia sempervirens/Sequoia |
 |
| Primula bulleyana (KSS) |
 |
| Astilbe |
 |
| Italian "wishing well" in the Rose Garden |
 |
| Rose Garden and specimen trees (KSS) |
 |
| Rose Garden arbor |
 |
| Rose Garden arbor |
 |
| Sturgeon Fountain (purchased in Florence, Italy in 1973) |
 |
| Japanese Garden bamboo fence |
 |
| Japanese Garden mossy stone lantern and trees |
 |
| Kent and Brynne under the bamboo "arch" |
 |
| Japanese Garden curly tree (KSS) |
 |
| Japanese Garden fountain (KSS) |
 |
| Dock in Tod Inlet |
 |
| Pruned tree |
No comments:
Post a Comment