The Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden, the first of Jennie Butchart's formal gardens, was started in 1906. A Japanese landscape artist, Isaburo Kishida, assisted with the design. Under the supervision of Hugh Lindsay, the first of Mrs. Butchart's head gardeners, labourers from the cement works implemented Kishida's plan. Jennie installed a torii gate to mark the entrance to the garden. The purple beech on each side of the gate and the Japanese maples at the head of the stone stairs down into the garden are the oldest non-native trees in The Butchart Gardens.

British Columbia · Canada