We spent our first day on Vancouver Island going to visit one of my favorite places – the Butchart Gardens.

These 103 year old gardens, originally carved out of a rock quarry, include some 55 acres of carefully cultivated land. We never saw a single spotted leaf, pest, weed, dead branch, even anything so prosaic as mulch – just mounds and thickets and glens of glorious trees, shrubs and flowers.

Beautiful begonias.	Sunken garden.
Sunken pond.	Day lilies.
Private tea garden.	Huge rose.
Passion flower.	Japanese garden.

Wouldn’t it be glorious to be a master gardener in a place like that? You’d create in color, texture, scent and bloom season like an artist, a sculptor, and then be able to touch, feel, see, walk about within your vision throughout the year.