We’re back with what is going to be a semi-regular feature of taking the GPOD on the road to visit great public garden spaces. Today friend-of-the-GPOD Cherry Ong is taking us to visit the incredible Butchart Gardens in British Columbia. Specifically, she’s taking us to see the Rose Garden, the Perennial Borders, and Enchanting Arches Pathway. These photos are from her visit around the first week of August.

If you’ve visited a great public garden in your travels, or have one in your area that you’d like to share, please send in photos so we can all virtually enjoy these beautiful spaces. These submissions are particularly welcome now as we move into the colder time of the year for most of our readers and home garden activity and GPOD submissions tend to drop off.

The rose garden includes this huge, flower-covered rose shrub, which blends into the perennials and other shrub plantings beyond.

This part of the rose garden is classically formal, with a perfect lawn, trimmed hedges, and regimented rows of roses.

A gazing ball reflects the rose abundance all around it.

Roses may be notoriously fussy and sometimes disease-prone or otherwise problematic, but this picture shows why they are still one of the most beloved flowers in the world. It’s hard to beat their incredible beauty when grown well.

But this garden isn’t all roses. Here a variegated pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia ‘Argentea’, Zones 3–7) steals the scene.

These rose beds are lined with white sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima, annual).

The Enchanting Arches Pathway features a long series of plant-covered arches.

The roses growing up these arches aren’t in flower at the moment, but the effect is still pure magic. Cherry says these are some of the best garden arches she’s ever seen, and I have to agree!

Climbing roses, despite the name, don’t really climb; they generally just have very long stems that can, with care, be attached and arranged to climb up arches and other structures. Covering each of these arches with roses involved an enormous amount of work, especially considering the thorns!

The arches are made of faux bois (fake wood) concrete to a beautiful effect.

 

Have a garden you’d like to share?

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, send 5-10 photos to gpod@taunton.com 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.

If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.

Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!

You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!

Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.

Fine Gardening Recommended Products

Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes

Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs.

Buy at Amazon

DeWalt Variable-Speed Cordless Reciprocating Saw

Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

You can fit a variety of blades to this saw to cut fallen branches or prune larger limbs from trees in a pinch. It’s fast, tough, easy to use, and extremely versatile.
- 18.31 x 6.13 x 4 inches
- 1-1/8-inch stroke length
- Variable speed trigger with 0-3000 spm

Buy at Amazon

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.

Buy at Amazon