Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC

In May, my husband and I celebrated our 15th anniversary with a cruise from San Diego, CA back to our home in Vancouver, BC.  We had the wonderful opportunity to spend a day in Victoria BC (which may sound funny but this is a rare occurrence for us, since the trip otherwise involves a lengthy and expensive ferry ride from Vancouver).  We decided to spend part of the day at the world famous Butchart Gardens - my first visit.  Even though it was early in the year, it seemed the entire garden was already in bloom.  Here are a few photos I compiled into mosaics.

As you see from the next set, even the garbage bins were in bloom:

We spent 3 hours in the garden, and that was barely enough time to make it through all the areas, with me taking photos (I had told myself I would just enjoy it, but it was so photogenic I couldn't help myself).  Another time I would plan for 4 hours.  But as it was, after a stop downtown to visit our two favourite stores, we made it back to the ship just in time to reboard.

If you ever have a chance to visit Victoria, this is a visit I would recommend.  As I would a Pacific coastal or Alaska cruise.

As for my recent absence of garden posts, I have actually been quite busy in the garden this, doing some major cleanup and projects.  Most of the time, I have been too busy to stop and take photos.

Then 4 weeks ago, I sprained my ankle while walking through moist grass in our sloped front yard.  I am finally walking almost normally, but I am still slow navigating stairs, and can feel pain or discomfort in my ankle any time the ground is uneven or sloped in any direction.  I'm now back in the garden, but need to be careful not to forget myself, and aggravate it again.