On Tuesday, we went to The Butchart Gardens. The gardens are dog friendly. Surprisingly, there were only about 5 dogs there in total, and Daisy was a hit in her little pouch on Paul’s chest. Every foreign visitor had to take a picture of her, so she was photographed as much as the gardens! A woman from Delhi, India must have been missing her pug and yellow Lab because she took several pictures of the dogs, and then later when we bumped into her again, she wanted a picture holding Daisy. Then, she showed us pictures of her dogs and how her pug cuddles with her husband on the sofa. She showed us the pictures her husband had just sent her that morning of their yard with peacocks in it. You could tell she was missing home, but she was so talkative and happy to be travelling.

The gardens are over 100 years now.  I found the Japanese garden the most beautiful and serene, but the Sunken Garden was the most impressive.  This is because it was originally a quarry before Jennie Butchart began to transform it.

The Sunken Garden:

I found this picture on an information board fascinating.  This is the big mountain of rock left in the garden when she first started the transformation:  

This is what it looks like today: 

A Poppy and a Daisy invading The Rose Garden:

The Japanese Garden:

After a tour of the Italian Garden, we stopped for gelato.  I had rose with chocolate chunks.  Spectacular!  The girls enjoyed sharing our cool treat, but then they were ready for some fresh running water, specifically for visiting pooches.

  
Poppy is still quite skittish, but I was so proud of her behaviour in the gardens.  Strangers came up to her and stole a stoke of her soft coat, and she never flinched.  Sometimes she moved right in for a deeper cuddle.  Daisy was her usual aloof self, though posing for the paparazzi.  After all that intense practicing of good behaviour, they were both ecstatic to roll around on the lawn at the entrance/exit of the gardens.