Join Victorian Garden Tours for a customized tour of our wonderful gardens.
Why tour with us?:
- You will view gardens at their "peak" because we know each garden
- You can take advantage of our intimate local garden knowledge by getting specific and general information on each garden
- Enjoy exclusive access to private gardens not available to the public
- Discover current garden trends from our knowledgable guides
- Learn how local gardeners are using garden trends in their work
- You'll be introduced to local gardening enthusiasts and experts
- Save time by having us design a custom tour tailored to your schedule and interests
Private garden tours feature the following:
- vetted for quality of design and maintenance
- selected for year round design and seasonal interest
- designed,created and maintained primarily by owner
We tour gardens for all seasons.
- Late winter/early spring tours February through March
- Spring/summer tours April through September
- Fall tours October through mid-November
- Mid-winter tours mid-November through January (wonderful time to enjoy a customized tour of our historic Japanese gardens!)
The following sample gardens are always evolving in terms of seasonal interest and can be visited at different times throughout the year to meet visiting gardener's needs and preferences. Gardens such as the 4 Season Garden, Government House and Butchart Gardens are designed for year round interest. Mid-winter is a wonderful time to join us for our customized Historic Japanese Garden Tour.
SPRING / SUMMER GARDENS
A day in Victoria’s Beautiful Private and Public Gardens
Sculptor Birgit Piskor Garden - (click here to view)Wonderful mixed borders surrounding a turn of the century Edwardian home tucked in on a street of other heritage homes. This garden is accented by fences, trellises and arbours all designed and constructed by the homeowner. There is vibrant bloom and a great interplay texture of foliage in this garden. This garden is located in a historic neighbourhood in the downtown area.
Heritage Estate - (click here to view)
The highlights of these gardens include exuberant perennial borders which feature a wonderful complexity of plantings and great use of colour and texture all planned for year round interest (one of the borders was co-designed by one of Victoria’s watercolour artists). An extensive rockery on banks overlooking the ocean, a Victorian Rose Garden as well as an herb garden featuring a formal tapestry planting of Mediterranean herbs.
Afternoon Tea
Afternoon tea in a quaint tea room that has been selected as number one in Victoria for several years in a row as the best place in Victoria for tea. Featuring all homemade herb butters, jams, preserves and baking.The "Four Seasons" Garden - (click here to view)
A half-acre urban garden created by a dynamic lady who is an active member of Victoria’s gardening community. She designed and maintains this garden that has been designed for four-season interest (this garden placed first in a national competition for best year round garden design). This garden features mixed borders, each of which has its own distinct flavour ranging from a woodland section to a Mediterranean planting and rockery in full sun. Throughout, there are harmonious colour combinations with an emphasis on foliage and texture as well as bloom. This garden is never static; the owner is constantly seeking out the best varieties and incorporating newly introduced plants. Here you will find young choice trees that have been incorporated into the borders with plans for the future.
Uplands Hidden Private Garden - (click here to view)
We offer exclusive access to this English Country garden with West Coast flavour that features plants from around the world. The garden was recently featured in the prestigious British gardening publication Hortus Gardening Journal and has also been profiled in a special Sunset publication on Gardens of the Pacific Northwest, a publication of Canadian Homes and Gardens and other notable magazines and journals.
The 15-year-old three-quarter-acre organic garden was designed and continues to evolve under the nurturing hand of its owner. This garden with wonderful mixed borders has been designed for year round interest. It has a West Coast flavour and features a selection of perennial plants from around the world including many from Tasmania, China and Costa Rica. These surround a Koi pond and have been combined in a Mediterranean style patio planting. The garden has been designed to be multi purpose with several garden rooms. Keeping faith with its past as part of a Garry Oak meadow (three to four hundred year old Oak trees are on the property), this garden was designed from the beginning to attract birds and wildlife who are now frequent visitors.
Other Spring / Summer Gardens
Mediterranean Drought Tolerant Garden - (click here to view)This southern-facing terraced garden overlooking Juan de Fuca Straight offers visual and olfactory sensations amid terra cotta pottery, layers of succulents, and even an antique wine press.
Unique Urban Garden - (click here to view)
Featured nationally and regionally in gardening publications, this garden was designed and built by a woman who writes for one of Western Canada's gardening magazines. Using a classical theme, she has used recycled materials to create her own garden structures.
FALL GARDEN TOURS
Heritage Estate Garden Tour - (click here to view)
Discover the wonderful outdoor vistas at historic, seaside Hatley Castle. Enjoy a personalized in-depth tour of the gardens of a turn of the century estate with its many heritage trees. The highlights of the estate include-the four acre Japanese gardens which have a wonderful collection of Japanese maples and other plants that feature fall colour. There is a streamside trail through the estate’s old growth forest that is beautiful in the fall with the colour of the maples. There is also a formal walled Italian terrace garden which contains many of the original urns and statues, a bog garden with primula, hostas, gunnera and other aquatic plants.
Butchart Gardens - (click here to view)
This world famous limestone quarry turned garden celebrated its 100th birthday in 2004. TheJapanese garden--one of the first sections developed in the converted quarry--offers spectacular autumn colours overlayed on Japanese art and archtecture, as expressed through garden structures generously scattered in the garden.
Rustic Country Restaurant Lunch
Enjoy a down-home meal at one of the Westshores’ most popular restaurants. The My-Chosen Café features homemade country cuisine in a relaxed setting. A wide variety of entrees are available suitable to all tastes.
Private Fall Garden Tour
"Chosin" Garden - (click here to view)
Join us to explore a large (2 and a half acres), mixed private garden that has Japanese overtones with interesting structures and sculptures placed among the trees and shrubs, many of which have been chosen for their fall colour. Among other publications, it was profiled in the Canadian garden magazine GARDENING LIFE in its Fall 1998 Harvest Special edition as an example of an excellent fall garden. This ever evolving garden also has a bog garden, water features, as well as woodland shade gardens featuring oriental woodland plants. The creator of this garden is one of Canada’s leading potters and he generously shares his time with us leading us through his garden. This garden has been featured nationally and internationally in magazines and on television.Barton Leier Gallery & Garden - (click here to view)
Profiled in Valerie Eason and David Laskin's book "Artists in their Gardens," this vibrantly coloured autumn garden features the work of Nixie Barton and Grant Leier.
The following is from
The Best Places To Kiss In The Northwest
- 8th edition ***VICTORIAN GARDEN TOURS, VICTORIA"...sure, Butchart Gardens is spectacular, but if you want to see, smell and savour some of Victoria's hidden gems without swarms of people, this is your tour. From herb farms to English gardens, Victorian Garden Tours caters to the preference of its guests. The proprietor, a garden aficionado, knows Victoria's garden community like the back of her hand and, with advance notice, can design trips to private and public gardens..."
