Hi GPOD!
Today’s photos come from a friend of GPOD, Cherry Ong, who visited the Butchart Gardens in early March and captured these scenes in the Sunken Garden. Cherry reflects, “What I love about the cold season is how the interest shifts to perennials that anchor the garden.” Even this early in the season, the garden feels full of life, and offers a lesson in structure. At this time, texture and quiet beauty carry the display as spring slowly begins to unfold.
This site was originally used as a limestone quarry, but in the early 1900’s, it had been mostly worked out. It was then transformed by Jennie Butchart into the lush display garden visitors know today and remains a testament to vision, patience, and horticultural artistry.
The Sunken Garden’s dramatic bowl shape creates a sense of immersion, where layered plantings, terraces, and winding paths draw visitors downward into an ever-changing tapestry of color and texture. Early spring offers us the opportunity to view the unique structure of the “bowl” where a plethora of hardy perennials and evergreens ensures beauty well before the peak bloom of summer.
Butchart sits at USDA Zone 8, where mild coastal conditions allow for a long growing season and an impressive diversity of plantings throughout the year.
An amazing moss-covered Japanese maple‘s winding and twisting branches lends tons of sculptural interest in the off-season. It will soon be covered with just as gorgeous leaves, but seeing it now is a treat unto itself and a reminder that cool-weather garden visits offer their own gifts.
Evergreen trees and shrubs offer so much versatility and potentialy for creating interest in the garden.
Broadleaf evergreens like this Rhododendron (Rhododendron spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9), are often underutilized in garden design, but work well paired with conifers such as this dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca cvs. Zones 3–6)
A Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis, Zones 5–8) is resplendent covered in pink-tinted blooms that will fade to a snowy white.
Multiple gorgeous vistas greet the walker of the Sunken Garden’s paths where the dramatic backdrop of the bowl’s walls covered in evergreen vines, shrubs, and trees offer the visitor a sense of secrecy and solitude.
The stacked boulders drenched in delightful mosses of varying colors, vines, and perennials create a natural doorway through which more garden treasures may be found.
Spring bulbs, some in bloom and some nodding away still in slumber, create a stunning display that will only get better as the season progresses. Planted here amongst boulders and a pink-blossomed heather (Calluna vulgaris and cvs., Zones 5–8), and spotlighted against a backdrop of multiple cherry-blossoms, this area will practically sing with color once spring fully arrives.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, fill out the Garden Photo of the Day Submission Form.
You can also send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here
Fine Gardening Recommended Products
The Crevice Garden: How to make the perfect home for plants from rocky places
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
A crevice garden replicates the environmental conditions of mountain tops, deserts, coastlines, and other exposed or rocky places on earth. These striking garden features provide perfect conditions for the plants native to these far-off places, bringing the cultivation of these precious gems within everybody’s reach.
ARS Telescoping Long Reach Pruner
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Telescopes from 4 to 7′. Cut and Hold (160) Blades. Drop forged blades for unsurpassed long lasting sharpness. Lightweight, 2.3 lbs., for continued use. Perfectly balanced for easy pruning.
