Highlights of the four-acre Japanese garden designed by leading Japanese landscaper and gardener Isaburo Kishida. Mr. Kishida was a Pioneer of Japanese Gardens in B.C., and between 1906 and 1912 he developed the Butchart's Japanese garden (see Butchart) and Takata Tea Garden. (See Hort Centre)
The presence of water is throughout the garden with brooks, rills and waterfalls as water flows from springs to the man made ponds.
The heart of the Japanese garden is its man made lake with the curved bridge which leads to the tortoise island (tortoise represents 10,000 years) on the bridge you look at the two cranes on a smaller island (cranes represent 1000 years) and realize with the bridge symbolizing the journey from one world to another you are crossing to the island of immortality.
Here in the teahouse you can admirethe spring rhododendrons, azaleas, masses of primulas and other spring perennials on the shore mirrored in the lake. Spring is the season when you enjoy the fragrance of the blossoms of the Carolina allspice and the deciduous species azaleas (Knapp Hill and Exbury). In the fall these spring blossoms are replaced by the vibrant fall color including the Japanese maples, parrotia, Persian ironwood and the giant peony luteas)
The original Edwardian and Japanese architecture as well as water basins and stone lanterns transport you to a different time and place. There is a sense of continuity with the past when you can still see the moss covered original rock placements under the towering original trees including Japanese cherry trees, Japanese maple trees, Japanese umbrella pines, copper beeches, western red cedars and rhododendrons.
In this garden one understands that “A Japanese garden evokes the natural world.” As well as trees and shrubs “Its essential components are water, and stone, the yin (soft, feminine, gently flowing) and yang (solid, masculine, invigorating) elements of the wild landscape”.