If there was a heaven for flowers Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada would be it. Butchart Gardens is flower heaven on earth.
I visited Butchart Gardens over 25 years ago and it left an indelible impression on me.
I had never in my life seen such a beautiful place. That visit was way before Hitesh and I had kids and became a family of five. That trip stuck with me forever and I have wanted to share that awe-inspiring feeling I had with my girls.
One of my ulterior motives for going to Vancouver on a family holiday this summer was so I could take the kids to Butchart Gardens. Did it look as spectacularly beautiful as the first time I saw it? YES! YES! YES!
Our Seaplane Flight to Victoria
The last time Hitesh and I visited Butchart Gardens over two decades ago we were on a holiday in Victoria. We had flown into Seattle from San Francisco and took a ferry across to Victoria where we rented a car and explored this beautiful area.
This time however since we were vacationing in Vancouver our ferry ride to and back from Victoria was going to be a total of 8 hours (4 hour ferry ride each way). This meant we wouldn’t have much time to explore Butchart Gardens and have a relaxing excursion.
What we didn’t know until our friend John who lives in Vancouver told us is that there are seaplanes that take passengers to and from Victoria that are a mere 30-minute flight. John said these flights were extremely popular for people wanting to cut down on their commute time and highly recommended we look into it. We did, and Hitesh booked us all on a seaplane flight across the bay and to the town of Victoria.
Small, efficient and quick these seaplanes are.
Think shuttle bus but in the air. These are tiny planes that seat just 15 passengers. This was a great experience for all of us taking off on the water and landing on water, with beautiful scenery out the window. This had to be the best decision we made to enjoy our day in Victoria.
Brunch in Victoria Downtown.
Our first stop after landing in Victoria was to grab a bite to eat in downtown Victoria. Based on the recommendation of our complimentary airline shuttle driver we had brunch at Nourish Kitchen and Cafe. This was a delight of a restaurant with awesome farm-to-table food.
Butchart Gardens. Flower Heaven.
After a hearty brunch we grabbed a cab to Butchart Gardens, the reason we came to Vancouver and Victoria in the first place. What a gorgeous day it was for a garden excursion. Temperatures in the 60s and 70s made this an amazing day to view flowers.
Butchart Gardens has been around for more than 100 years; very impressive considering it still looks as spectacular as ever.
We have never seen any garden as beautiful as Butchart Gardens anywhere in the world!!! Millions of flowers displayed immaculately on acres of gardens are a feast for the senses.
How, how, how can I narrow down the hundreds of photos I took of this amazing place?
I’ve tried my best to give a sampling of the flowers on display, so here it goes. Apologies in advance if there are too many photos in this post 🌷🌹🌻🌺🌼😊.
It truly is a magical garden.
Not a single dry flower or blemished bud to be seen, not a dry leaf on the floor, not a twig out of place, it was like Disneyland for flowers where everything is picture perfect.
We did notice during our tour workers working in camouflaged attire in stealth mode picking up leaves and gently pruning bushes here and there.
Lush hanging baskets brimming with flowers as far as the eye can see.
The Rose Garden
The Japanese Garden
The Italian Garden
This was a gorgeous garden complete with a pond, fountain and a gelato parlor.
Even the gelato sign had flowers growing around it!
A few family pics in the Italian garden.
The Sunken Garden.
The Sunken Garden is absolutely stunning and the most gorgeous garden we have ever seen.
The Dahlia Garden
Heading back through the Rose Garden and perennial garden
The Tea Room
Our last stop was the dreamy tea room where we were hoping to get in for high tea, but they were sold out.
