Glorious Gardens in Victoria, Canada

We got up at the outrageous hour of 5:30 A.M. (HOW did I DO that for over 30 years?) to catch our hydrofoil ferry to Victoria. My geography knowledge often fails me so if you know this already, skip the next sentence. Victoria is a city on the island of Vancouver. Vancouver is part of British Columbia, one of the 10 provinces (like states) of Canada. Even with the "fast" hydrofoil, it was a 3 hour trip.

The capital building of British Columbia.
The Empress Hotel has been restored to its turn-of-the-century style.The cities up here take such pride in their flowers.

The main purpose of our trip was to see Butchart Gardens.

Robert Butchart began manufacturing cement in Portland. He came to Victoria because there was a lot of limestone and set up a factory. As this limestone was removed, his wife, Jennie, had topsoil brought in. Slowly, she converted this bleak quarry into a spectacular sunken garden.

The Butcharts left the 93 acres to their grandson, who made it world famous. I've seen many gardens but none held a candle to this one. There were flowers everywhere and in the beds were so thick with some of the largest blooms I've ever seen.

There are no words to describe and, although pictures don't do it justice, I'd like to share a few. (I'm sorry Ed didn't take his good camera.)

This is the main quarry and is now part of the Sunken Garden section.

Doesn't this look like a postcard?

My friends-since-first-grade, Lois, Bunny and Sarah would love this place!
I wonder how much Miracle Grow it would take to grow this!