The Story of Butchart Gardens

Late one mid-December afternoon in 1950, an elderly woman looked out of the window of her home in Victoria, and softly whispered to her nurse: "I've never seen a more beautiful sunset."… a moment later, she died.

 The woman was Jennie Butchart, and during her eighty-two years on this earth she helped make a small corner of it so beautiful that almost a million people a year travel to see it. Taking over her husband’s disused limestone quarry, she oversaw the design and development of the world’s most famous private garden. The legacy she left rivals the splendor of any sunset and Butchart Gardens continues to amaze visitors from around the world... it's a remarkable legacy, left by a remarkable woman. And one which her family continues to cherish.

 The stuff of legend is what makes a good story, and the stuff grows here as quickly as a well-tended flower bed. Legends cannot be proved or disproved, merely recounted and enjoyed. Mystery and speculation only serve to make them more durable. Butchart Gardens is certainly a legend.

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Late one mid-December afternoon in 1950, an elderly woman looked out of the window of her home in Victoria, and softly whispered to her nurse: "I've never seen a more beautiful sunset."… a moment later, she died.

The woman was Jennie Butchart, and during her eighty-two years on this earth she helped make a small corner of it so beautiful that almost a million people a year travel to see it. The legacy she left rivals the splendor of any sunset and Butchart Gardens continues to amaze visitors from around the world... it's a remarkable legacy, left by a remarkable woman. And one which her family continues to cherish.

Jeannette Foster Kennedy was born on February 26, 1868, in the downtown of fast-growing Toronto, Ontario. Her Canadian-born mother, Martha Kennedy, was of Irish origin but little is known of her Irish father, James Kennedy, except that he was a reasonably successful seed and commission merchant. His untimely death occurred the same year Jeanette was born.

Jennie, as she preferred to be called, lived with her mother at 168 King Street West, then later in a brick-built house at 56 George St. in St. David's Ward, just a short walk from the busy shore of Lake Ontario.

According to her family and friends, the young Jennie was "round-faced, rosy-cheeked, wide-awake and full of laughter… though polite and well-mannered, she was an active child and not afraid to show her natural athletic skills. "I rode almost as soon as I could walk," she told a reporter years later, and she could drive a coach and horses, or a "four in hand" at a very young age.

At twelve years old she could outskate most boys her age, and at sixteen, Jennie blossomed into a sophisticated young lady, but still shunned parading with a parasol in favour of riding bareback ponies around the countryside. She was, it was said, "the best equestrienne in the park," and had an interest in all kinds of sport.

When her mother died in 1880, Jennie moved to Owen Sound, another busy Great Lakes port of the time, to live with her aunt, Mrs. Robert Paterson. Although there were seven other children in the family already, Jennie settled down quickly into her new home, and enjoyed outdoor life. She would help out on the farm and a favourite companion was a large collie dog, which helped Jennie chase and round up cattle; an illicit pastime that earned them both a frequent scolding.

"My aunt was an excellent housekeeper," she later recalled, "and we were taught domestic science in the good, old fashioned, unforgettable school of experience." The skills she learned in that basic kitchen would stand her in good stead, when later the world, as it would seem, began to visit her home and appreciate her role as gracious hostess.