Butchart Gardens

Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay near Victoria, British Columbia, grew from an industrial site into one of Canada’s best-known gardens. After Robert Pim Butchart established a home beside his limestone quarry in 1904, Jennie Butchart transformed the exhausted pit into the Sunken Garden, completed in 1921, and later additions included Italian, rose, and Japanese gardens shaped by designers and consultants including Isaburo Kishida and Samuel Maclure. The property evolved from a private family estate into a major public attraction, remaining in family ownership while adding illuminations, sculptures, performances, and new visitor features. Today it draws more than a million visitors annually and is a National Historic Site of Canada.

British Columbia · Canada