Just back from a trip to Canada which included a visit to Butchart Gardens n Vancouver Island. It was ingeniously created from an exhausted limestone quarry exactly 100 years ago. Beautiful though it undoubtedly was, it wasn't really my cup of tea. The planting in a lot of the gardens within the garden were a case of "bung in the annuals": as soon as anything starts to wilt or die off, it's whipped out and replaced with more temporary bedding. The result was a blaze of colour, certainly, but not particularly sustainable or likely to get a thumbs up from many organic gardeners.
The Japanese garden was lovely, though, as was the proliferation of Japanese maples, pictured here overlooking the sunken garden. I also loved Butchart's massive display of dahlias. It's a flower that seems to be deeply unfashionable, but I think it's wonderful: jolly, unpretentious and a great cut flower for a bold display. Strangely enough, I've heard that cut-price supermarket Lidl did a very good selection of tubers this year so I'll have to check that out.
After reading Elspeth Thompson's book compiling her Telegraph columns, Urban Gardener, I've been inspired to think about a cutting flower area for the allotment. Dahlias will definitely be on the list ...
I found the Butchart Gardens to be too busy and too cute. All that color from the hanging plants got in my way of enjoying the roses.
For my taste, the better gardens are in Vancouver, particularly the bontanical garden in town and the UBC botanical garden.
As someone destined to garden in warm, humid climates, I appreciated the clarity of healthy plants thriving on the gentle airs of the coastal region. Of course, I was there in August, and it did not rain for 10 days. If I had experienced it in the wetter months (the other eleven?) I may have had a different understanding of gardening there.
Posted by: Don | October 26, 2004 at 07:35 PM
I know exactly what you mean Don. I prefer the botanical gardens at UBC too: I've been there a couple of times and was enchanted, particularly by the kitchen garden area. Everything seems to grow so well there: the pumpkins were particularly fine, as I remember.
Posted by: Jane Perrone | October 28, 2004 at 12:34 PM
I need to know the horticultural name for Dahlias
Posted by: Dorothy Wengler | August 21, 2009 at 07:25 PM