Thursday, December 12, 2013

Walking Through a Winter Garden



Butchart Gardens is all decked out for the festivities. A friend and I walked through the gardens today. 
 

Swags of cedar tied with red or blue or gold or silver bows, depending upon which section of the garden you find yourself, adorn gates and handrails. 
 

The rose garden is bare, but the archway has been festooned with greenery and bows.
 

Not much is blooming just now, but this viburnum showed a little bit of colour. 
 

The Gardens display the Twelve Days of Christmas. It's fun to wander through and look for the various characters from the song. Here is my personal favorite - the Three French Hens. Don't they look like they are having fun? Did you spy the Eiffel Tower in the background? At night these displays are wonderfully lighted. But photos are better in the daytime. 
 

The Japanese Garden has no decorations and today I found out why. It has to do with the electricity needed to power all the other displays. There just isn't enough for this garden, too. But it's still beautiful. I do love this stone pathway.

The Gardens supply umbrellas for their guests, which is a very good thing as the skies drizzled down on us for much of our walk. Afterwards, we went to my friend's house for tea and cookies. Thank you, Sandi.

What local attractions do you like to visit in December? 

16 comments:

  1. The winter garden is lovely festooned for Christmas! The three French hens are fabulous! :D

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  2. Oh what a wonderland. I love the twelve days of christmas - I'd like to see more of their interpretations. The archways are lovely. We have Warm Beach - it is a campground and retreat center a little south of here - they have thousands and thousands of lights decorating everything you can think of - it is like walking through a fairy land.

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  3. I would love to see that Japanese garden--adore that stone path! The viburnum is quite lovely and I think the French Hens are AWESOME!
    In NW Oregon there are many places to see at this time of the year--one of my favs is Pittock Mansion located in the West Hills of Portland. I love the view and how they decorate each of the rooms.
    Advent Blessings,
    Aimee

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  4. They do a great job at Butchart Gardens.
    Have you taken tea at The Blue Poppy?
    What a lovely way to spend your day.

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  5. Anonymous11:49 PM

    Garden looks wonderful. Chicks party is excellent!!

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  6. Thanks for sharing so we can also have a few minutes in the gardens. Love those french hens!

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  7. I love the theme of the garden and the archways. I'm about to visit the City Centre and see if I can spot the Coca Cola truck that is making its rounds around the country. Might be a bit crowded. Oh well, wish me luck! xx

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  8. Butchart Gardens, always such a pleasure no matter the season - thanks for sharing your visit Lorrie.

    We used to visit Christmas light shows with the kids - the drive-thru type - now we two just enjoy driving around neighborhoods where the houses look lovely decorated. Funny thing is though, older neighborhoods with seniors, such as ours, gradually show their age too with fewer lights - must be the fact we find it hard to clamber up ladders to hang lights - while the younger homeowners, especially in the more affluent, new subdivisions, are doing what we did a couple of decades back! What goes around definitely comes around again! On Christmas Eve we always enjoy viewing the luminarias (candles in white bags) lit at dusk to burn all evening along the neighborhood streets. If there's a dusting of snow - not usual here though - it's even prettier!
    Have a wonderful weekend dear - busy one for us all!
    Hugs -- Mary

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  9. I love all the greenery on that archway and the three French hens are really cute! I don't go anywhere like that as there is nothing like that to go to here. How dull for us. There are lots of nice Christmas lights in different neighbourhoods but we don't take the time to drive by them I guess. Thanks for the little tour.

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  10. I did like the French hens settling in for a gossip!

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  11. Beautiful place! I love those French hens, too! I don't think there is a place (like a garden) that I visit every Christmas. I would have to say my friends' homes, my church, my neighborhood!

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  12. Lovely to see the Butchart Gardens remain open through the winter.
    The arched walkway looks very pretty dressed in greenery.
    The three french hens are adorable - meeting for coffee and a chat beside the Eiffel Tower!
    We may take a little drive this evening to see the lights and decorations in the city.
    Now if our grandchildren lived here we would make a point of taking them to the big department store to see the Christmas windows - they do them so well.

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  13. It must be nice to be close enough to this fabulous garden to enjoy it all year long in the different seasons. We have a local garden store that always has beautiful Christmas displays and many many varieties of poinsettias. I always enjoy a December stroll through Molbak's.

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  14. I'd like that...to walk through Butchart Gardens in December! I'm smiling...at the French Hen's tea party!

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  15. Always pretty. I haven't been through the gardens in a couple of years now. The Japanese is my favorite.

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  16. Loved the Japanese garden and especially the stepping stones.

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