Victoria’s Butchart Gardens “music in the park” is a special treat

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

Butchart Gardens has a well deserved reputation for its colourful and varied gardens and is a well known attraction when visiting Victoria.  The gardens have been running for over 100 years and started when Jennie Butchart decided to rehabilitate a limestone quarry which had been used to supply her husband’s cement plant.  We have visited the 55 acre garden in spring and summer in the past (we still haven’t seen the elaborate displays for Christmas ) but a real highlight in the summer is the chance to combine viewing the amazing gardens with music as part of Butchart Gardens summer concert series. From July 1 until September 3, on Friday and Saturday nights Butchart Gardens plays host to a variety of summer concerts.  

                                                          Canna Lilies near the Bandshell

We arrived around 5:30 pm on Saturday, August 6 so that we could see the gardens before the 8:00 pm concert.  Our group included my brother and his wife who live in Victoria and have season passes at Butchart Gardens and regularly take in the summer concerts since it is included in the daily ticket cost! We also had our sister from Arizona in tow who hadn’t been back to Butchart gardens in over 45 years. Like many people we also packed a picnic lunch to eat on the grass in front of the band stand. This is a popular way to take in the summer concerts since you couldn’t ask for a nicer, more picturesque place to have a picnic than on a grassy lawn surrounded by flowers and shade trees.

                                       You couldn't ask for a better place to have a picnic that at Butchart Gardens

 The rose garden is a special treat throughout the summer and is the only part of the garden where the plants are named. Although the Sunken Garden was in partial shade when we arrived it was still spectacular with its 21 meter Ross Fountain at the end. One disadvantage of arriving later in the afternoon is that some of the garden is now in shade so if you want to see the gardens in their best light plan to get there by mid afternoon at the latest. We also appreciated the Italian Garden and the entry walkway to the Concert Stage and lawn with its nicely spaced trees surrounded by rings of flowers. We finished up our tour of the gardens by 7:00 pm (allow about 1.5 hours to see all parts of the gardens) and then had our picnic dinner.

                                                              

                        Despite the lower sun angles which shaded parts of the Sunken Garden it is still very scenic

The Odyssey String Quartet has played at Butchart Gardens  annually for 20 years and is one of their most popular groups. They played a mix of classical and popular music including a medley of Beatles songs and show tunes. They related a story of one of their earlier concerts when the stage was in the Sunken Garden and it was a cold and rainy evening.  “The audience got up on the stage with us to stay dry” they told us.   Although there are pre set chairs for the evening concerts we brought our own chairs so we could more easily have our picnic and find shade since it was a warm evening. Just be aware that once the sun goes down temperatures can drop appreciably and we were glad we brought long pants and a fleece to put on as the concert progressed.  

 

                                                 We loved the Italian Garden with its statues,flowers and pools

Music and Gardens ...a great combination and you couldn’t do much better for a special summer evening than spending it at Butchart Gardens. For the summer concert schedule and other information see: http://www.butchartgardens.com/. 

                                Close to 750 people appreciated the varied music of the Odyssey String Quartet