u i) 80th Anniversary Butchart Garden by Robert Peters The Review Like the octegenarian Review, Butchart Gardens is celebrating many years of history this summer. And in the spirit of the woman who put the bloom on the former cement plant quarry, theyre serv- ing tea to mark the occassion. Visitors born in 1912 will be admitted free and treated to com- plimentary tea with up to three friends in the Dining Room. It’s a gesture Jenny Butchart would approve of. Until numbers made it impossible, it was custom- ary to serve tea to all their visitors. In 1904 Jenny and her husband Robert Pim Butchart arrived on the Saanich Peninsula from Ontario. Butchart was an innova- tive manufacturer in the Portland cement business and discovered excellent conditions — including a rich limestone deposit — existed for a cement plant on Tod Inlet. They built their home in 1904 and the following year the first bargeload of cement was shipped out from the plant. But digging limestone for cement soon left its mark on the landscape. As the limestone supply was exhausted, a deep pit was left behind. Looking into this pit, Jenny Butchart envisioned a garden and, with a ready workforce from the cement plant, she set to the task of transforming it. Together with gardener William Westby, she designed what is today the Sunken Garden. They ordered tons of rich top soil from nearby farms, had it delivered by horse and cart, spread it over the quarry floor, and began planting. News of the Tod Inlet garden spread quickly and curious visi- tors, both friends and strangers, were free to roam around the Butchart home at their leisure. The Butcharts named their 50 hectare estate “Benvenuto” — “welcome” in Italian, an appro- priate name considering the mil- lions of people who have passed through its gates. By the 1930s, 50,000 people were visiting the Gardens annually. Since 1908, the gates have been closed to the public only four times: once when 300 American doctors visited, another day for the American garden chiefs; during a two-day visit by the king of Siam; and when, in 1929, Robert But- chart became a Freeman of Vic- toria, and was granted the keys to the city. In 1930, the Butcharts’ large vegetable garden was replaced by the Rose Garden, and Butchart cree, HISTORICAL PHOTO showing the creation of the flower beds ’s founder would in the sunken garden circa 1919. Photograph courtesy of Butchart Gardens Ltd. Butchart Gardens Ltd. cement had paved the mile-long Benvenuto Avenue, lined with 566 Japanese cherry trees. In 1938, the Butcharts left Ben- venuto to live in Victoria as Robert was in poor health and the couple wanted to be closer to hospitals. The Gardens subsequently passed on to the Butcharts’ grand- son, R. Jan Ross, who inherited it on his 21st birthday in 1939. While Ross was away from 1938 to 1948 studying law at Montreal’s McGill University and serving wartime duty in the Royal Cana- dian Navy, the estate was left in the care of his mother Jennie, his Aunt Mary, and caretakers. Upon his return, Ross, and his Chicago-bom wife Ann-Lee, had the difficult task of restoring the gardens. The war caused a severe shortage of workers to maintain the flowers. One of the first chages Ross made was charging an admission fee to cover the large annual defic- its incurred by his grandparents to care for the gardens. By the time they left, the Butcharts were pay- ing $25,000 a year from their own SUNKEN GARDENS — SUMMER. Photograph courtesy of pockets. In December 1950, Jenny But- chart died at the age of 82. Like her husband who died in 1943, she was cremated and her ashes were sponkled in Tod Inlet. DEVOTED EMPLOYEES June 25, 1953 marked the begin- ning of night lighting at the But- chart Gardens. For several days, the Rosses and a team of electrical engineers led by Vic Dawson worked until 3 or 4 a.m. laying four miles of underground cables to prepare for the Night Illumina- tion, installed for the 50th anniver- sary of the gardens. Dawson was retained after the lighting was constructed and became head of electrical mainte- nance. So devoted was Dawson that in August 1953 he crawled on his hands and knees in severe pain, suffering from appendicitis, just to finish turing on the night lights. After investigating why some of the lights were unlit, Jan Ross discovered Dawson and sent him to Rest Haven Hospital. In 1960, the orchard and kitchen garden was removed to make way _ TheReview Wednesday, July 29,1992 — 28 approve of free tea for an outdoor stage and sloped lawn. That summer began the tradition of evening entertainment at the concert lawn, where the Victoria Symphony Orchestra was one of the first to perform. Four years later, for the Gar- dens’s 60th anniversary, the Ross Fountain was constructed. Devel- oped in another abandoned quarry, the fountain’s rock wall was left bare to contrast with the Sunken Garden and remind visitors of the challenges faced by Jenny But- Continued on Page 29 WATCH FOR OUR NEW NAME! our Contest is Over and ALYCE’S FASHIONS IS SOON TO CHANGE THER NAME TO... 7105 West Saanich Road, Brentwood Bay 652-3143 MasterCard [eee] Open Mon.-Sat. 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Fri 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. for our JOIN THE THIS SATURDAY ONLY BE A MODEL CITIZEN AND SAVE! Join us on Saturday, August 1st ONE DAY SUMMER SALE. Save on hundreds of hobby & craft items including models, rockets, railway, books, die cast & more. This Saturday is also our Christmas Craft Open House for the crafty persons in your house. FUN SATURDAY, AUGUST 1st 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHEELERS Hobbies & Crafts OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 2471 BEACON AVE. THL. 656-4748