On 20th June, we joined the Victoria Men’s and Newcomers Club tour of Government House Gardens and then House organized by Glenn Soares. For the Garden Tour we were divided into groups of 10 and we had the Head Gardner, Valerie Murray, as our leader.
Valerie explained that the Gardens were originally designed in 1911 by G.K. Maclean, but after the rebuilding of Government House in the 1950’s the Gardens were redesigned as an English-style country garden by Robert Savery. The gardens encompass 36 acres of which about 14 acres are formal gardens and the rest are Garry Oak woods.
We started our tour in the Victorian Rose Garden, a colourful environment which is fenced off to discourage the deer. Valerie did mention that the other formal gardens are becoming more similar as the gardeners have to resort to the limited number of deer-resistant plants. However, we saw a wide array of shrubs, plans, and trees as we walked through the Winter Gardens (close to our heart!), the Rockland borders, and the Duck Pond, complete with turtles.
The Pearkes Garden was named for Lieutenant Governor Georges Pearkes who like to put on this Wellingtons and muck about in this garden clearing and planting. On the West side of the House we walked through the English Country Garden, the Herb Garden, the Cut Flower Garden, and the Sunken Rose Garden on our way to the Woodlands Lookout.
Valerie was very knowledgeable and answered our many questions on flowers, gardens and history with grace and humour. She explained that the gardens flourished in the 60’s and 70’s with up to 17 gardeners, but in the 1980s austerity hit. Only one gardener was left and the gardens fell into some disrepair. History has it that after a visit of the Queen and Prince Philip to Government House he suggested that many English estates were now cared for by volunteers, and in 1991 Lieutenant Governor David Lam started the Garden Volunteer Program. Today there are 400 members of the Friends of Government House Gardens Society of which about half volunteer in the gardens – a wonderful contribution!
We got our exercise for the morning by walking around the Terraces and climbing up the Rock and Alpine Garden to the look-out giving beautiful views south across Haro Straight. Finally, Valerie took us back to the front of Government House via the Rhododendron Garden, the backdrop to those wonderful pictures of Prince George and Princess Charlotte when they stayed in Government House with their parents in 2016.
Many thanks to Glenn Soares and to Valerie Murray for organizing and leading a great tour of the Gardens.
Review by Alan E Winter
