Visit Victoria’s Beautiful Butchart Gardens in All Seasons

Family travel to Canada, more specifically, Victoria, isn’t complete without a visit to Victoria’s Butchart Gardens. The family-run garden offers special programming each season, showcasing different blooms for each season. Now a National Historic Site of Canada, Butchart Gardens invites families to experience its beauty.

In the summer, Butchart Gardens overflows with roses. With more than 2,500 roses to see, visit the Rose Garden in July and August to see the flowers in peak bloom. The Rose Garden features a collection of ramblers, climbers, hybrid tea roses and floribundas. Stay into the night to see the more than 3,000 lights turn the garden into an ethereal wonderland. In the summer months, Butchart Gardens also hosts a summer concert series on Friday and Saturday nights July 1–Sept. 3, on the garden’s concert lawn.

© Destination Greater Victoria

Families planning a trip to Victoria in the fall can expect Butchart Gardens’ Japanese Garden to erupt with vivid colors characteristic of the fall season. In addition to red, russet and golden maples adorning the gardens, the Japanese Garden also boasts Acer plants. Through September and October, the garden highlights 700 dahlias, as well as orange, yellow and bronze chrysanthemums. Fall prepares many for the holiday season, and Butchart Gardens decorates for the holidays with pumpkins, gourds and squash found throughout the garden. To prepare for the winter season, poinsettias begin to appear in the greenhouses.

© Destination Greater Victoria

Canadian winters might sound brutal, but Victoria in winter is anything but. The mild climate of the city means winter flowers like snowdrops and lush hellebore bloom. During the holidays, enjoy a festive stroll along pathways adorned with garlands and lights. The garden’s Coffee Shop welcomes guests in after the walk for some hot chocolate and gingerbread by the fire. From mid-January to mid-March, the garden’s Blue Poppy Restaurant transforms into an indoor floral conservatory. In the restaurant, flowering shrubs, trees and bulbs line the paths.

Witness the more than 100 cherry blossoms in the spring. In the Sunken Garden, guests can walk through five acres of more than 65,000 bulbs of spring flowers. The Sunken Garden also features the elegant Ross Fountain and serene Bog Garden.