VICTORIA IN SPRING 2026

BUTCHART GARDENS

A National historic site of Canada. Over 100 years in Bloom as they say.

Lilo had a gift card for the gardens for her birthday.

This was cherry blossom bloom time and the place was crowded. It did help that the weather was spectacular, the sky was blue and the sun was bright in the sky. A picture perfect time to be in the gardens and by the Ocean.

The gardens cover 22 Hectares or 55 acres of land. Jennie Butchart started it over 100 years ago in an old worked out limestone quarry for her husbands Portland cement plant. The couple travelled around the world collecting shrubs, trees and flowers.

Daffodils were everywhere

There were many, many varieties of daffodils. Too many for me to count. Some crazy looking ones as well.

Hyacinth

One could smell the hyacinth all over the gardens, the fragrance was intoxicating. I believe the dark blue ones had the most potent perfume.

Ross Fountain

The Spring plants at Butchart include 180,000 biennials, 300,000 bulbs, 92 varieties of Narcissus, 191 varieties of Tulips, 88 other spring bulbs such as Hyacinthus, Crocus, Scilla and Fritillaria. There are over 50 varieties of Iris, 280 varieties of Rhododendron and 2000 shrubs. Each season things change there.

I could not find this tulip variety in their plant guide but with so many varieties of plants I suppose they cannot have them all in the plant guide they hand out.