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Quarries typically evoke a certain kind of imagery: roughly hewn walls, crushed rubble underfoot, and stone slabs carelessly abandoned in unsightly heaps. But, on Canada’s Vancouver Island, one such abandoned quarry has a completely different aura, filled with a floral aroma, an explosion of colors, and the sound of birdsong. Just over 12 miles from Victoria, the brunch capital of Canada<\/a>, lies the Butchart Gardens<\/a>, a world-famous botanical garden colloquially known as The Gardens<\/a>. Over a million visitors make their way to The Gardens every year.<\/p>\n In 1904, an industrialist named Robert Pim Butchart opened a limestone quarry near Tod Inlet for his cement company, which employed 368 workers<\/a>\u00a0from around the world at its height. The limestone quarry served the Butchart family faithfully for around 5 years, allowing Robert to become the first local producer of Portland cement \u2014 a limestone-based cement from England. However, once the quarry’s limestone deposits ran out in 1909<\/a>, what was left was an ugly, rubble-filled depression 50 feet deep. Robert’s wife, Jennie Butchart, decided to turn the quarry into a garden, beginning work on what would become one of the most famous attractions in British Columbia.<\/p>\n By then, Jennie Butchart had already contracted Japanese landscaper\u00a0Isaburo Kishida to build her a Japanese-style garden overlooking a small cove. The quarry was transformed into the now famous Sunken Garden by transporting soil from nearby farms and using the remaining rubble to construct raised flower beds. Following the completion of the Sunken Garden, the ever ambitious Jennie\u00a0followed it up with an Italian Garden and a Rose Garden, all of which opened to the public by 1929, with Jennie herself playing hostess to The Garden’s visitors. Today, The Gardens are easily accessible from Victoria International Airport in Sidney, 8 miles away.<\/p>\n