Pulling ourselves away from the charms of The Butchart Gardens took some fortitude, but, though beguiled by the thought of spending the entire day there, we stuck to our knitting, as D says, and made our way south toward Victoria to our next destination: Hatley Castle Gardens.
We didn’t tour inside the castle but enjoyed the grounds, including Italian and Japanese gardens.
Then on to Victoria’s Inner Harbour…
… where every upright structure was festooned with the most luscious hanging baskets.
The landmark of Victoria – The Empress Hotel commands the view over the Inner Harbour.
The Government Buildings, and more baskets!
A few of my shots from our trip there in May, 2008.
Spring at Butchart = many tulips!
The celebrated Himalayan Blue Poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia)
Camellia blossoms in the Japanese Garden.TRAVEL NOTES:
Our route:
(A) Our house to
(C) Victoria and Vancouver Island, BC
The Butchart Gardens
Hatley Castle Gardens
Victoria Inner Harbour
Coho Ferries – Victoria BC to Port Angeles Washington
Port Angeles to Kingston Washington on US HWY 101
Washington State Ferry from Kingston to Edmonds, Washington
OMG..what an amazing place to visit, you must have had a great day :-)
All the photos are wonderful!!!!
Happy weekend
wow what a journey! Isn't it amazing just what you can do in a day if you set your mind to it! You saw the most beautiful places, loved that castle, and those other photos of Spring in Butchart are amazing, those tulips are practically glowing! I love Meconopsis, yet to see one for real, must put that on my list of things to do :) I got my plants into the garden yesterday, photos to follow soon. Have a restful weekend, C xx
What a wonderful place and fantastic photographs!!
Have a great weekend.
All the best.
Ingrid x
Oh my goodness! This has the be the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I'm working on life goals at the moment. This tour is going on there. Totally gorgeous photos Georgianna!!!
What stunning photographs and a surprising number of them reminded me of England. Maybe I should not be so surprised as when I looked on the map of your trip I was amazed to see a place called Surrey, the county I was born and bred in the UK!!
Thanks once again for sharing your beautiful photos with us.
I was in Victoria for a few days in 2002, eons ago. These photos show that it's even prettier than I remember!
Wow, more lovely photos. Love them.
what a wonderful trip and thank you for the beautiful photo's – I love the pretty hanging baskets and the wealth of flowers around the lampstand. I loved the fact that you included the little map because it gave me a perspective of where you had travelled and made it very interesting
~Dianne~
i remember that we tried to grow Himalayan Blue Poppies but they would not grow for us here in michigan. i think they grow best in the pnw, don't they?
beautiful pictures, g…..
hugs, cindy
simply stunning pictures as always! the fowers blooming were beautiful. i'm sure you had a blast taking all of those pictures. i especially love the yellow tulips with th blurred background : ).
Dear Georgianna, Beautiful, Beautiful, so many extraordinary photographs. I especially liked the images of the columns and balustrades. They are beautiful the way they have aged.
We visited Butchard Gardens many years ago. I will always remember the beauty of the place.
Including the map was a great idea. I enjoyed "following" your day.
These are all gorgeous, but the bokeh tulips are wonderful!! And the blue poppy is something to dream about!
Oh my, G, you invite us along to the most magical places, and your writing is a lovely as your photographs! Thank you for bringing us along! ~ Zuzu
incredible post, my dear! i enjoyed every bit of it. marvelous photos!
xo Alison
That was a long trip G but well worth it I'd say according to your super photos.
Personally, I would have headed for the Empress as they are famous for their afternoon tea and that would have been a check mark off my bucket list. :-)
I'm finding the thing I like best about blogging is visiting well known castles and gardens I'd love to see through the photos and writing of others. It's like sitting down with a friend to look at their pictures when they come back from a trip.
Judith
Hi Georgianna,
I,too enjoyed your day and all the beauty you captured. Now,I have two places I want to go too if we go to the west coast sometime.
I hope you got some rest on the weekend or played some tennis!
The tulips were amazing last spring and i have never seen such colorful lush hanging baskets.
Carolyn
Wow, so beautiful, captivating, enchanting, amazing and romantic…!!! I do so LOVE visiting your blog Georgianna. Your pictures are so inspiring and really brighten my day, Thank you!
Gorgeous and beautiful – you have such talent.
That tulips garden is gorgeous!! It's really wonderful with all the gorgeous colors! I wish i stay close to you! It would so much fun to hang out with you and chat about everything over a cup of tea! Have a lovely merry happy day and love to you sweet friend!
Thank you all so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed the tour. I realize I should have put the map at the beginning, whoops. But hope it was helpful anyway.
You're right, Judith – the Empress is famous for afternoon tea, but I think we were a bit too tired to really enjoy it, not to mention scruffy and sweaty! But I agree, visiting blogs is like a wonderful travel adventure every day. We are so lucky to enjoy these experiences.
Beautiful day to all of you.
xo
I've been to the Butchart Gardens…but not to the Hatley's Castle, which is gorgeous! Your pictures are lovely!
Beautiful photos, G.! xox
that's such a long and wholesome journey! the photos of the tulips look like they're in a painting, really! and absolutely adored the photo of the white door and the flowers behind in the background. i'm so taken by the tulips! haha. they're so beautiful, and rich in color.
and the castle looks beyond beautiful! i've always wanted to visit such a castle – with all the crawling flowers and gardens.
so happy for you, g! it's such an amazing journey you had. :)
x
Thank you so much for the virtual trip! It's so beautiful… and I can smell the flowers through my computer screen. This is just what I needed to see on this busy, busy day!
I've never seen so many flowers in one (okay two) places! Blimey, is it possible? It looks absolutely beautiful, thank you sharing this with us :)
Hello Georgianna…as always your photographs are stunning! I especially enjoyed seeing your pictures of my own area here on Vancouver Island…I live very close to the Butchart Gardens, in North Saanich near the ferry terminal. My husband and I have seasons passes to the gardens and visit frequently, camera in hand. You've reminded me too, to take a run up to Hatley Castle which I haven't done yet this year.
Your site is gorgeous…you capture the essence and beauty of the blooms so perfectly.
Ohhh my, these photos of Hatley and Butchart gardens are smth out of this world, am so much amazed, dear G!! Hatley castle sceneries are as if from a fairytale… Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella coming to my mind:)
And so juicy colors and sunlit flourishing paradise of the Butchart, simply fabulous!!
Very inspiring and so positively charging,as always, thank you so much, Georgianna!
Glad you had such a wonderful tour!
Big Hugs!=)