The Rural Voice, 2004-06, Page 10J.R. FARMS
EAST FRIESIAN
DAIRY SHEEP
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BILL AND LAURA MCKAY
RR 2 Tavistock, ON
NOB 2R0
(519) 462-1446
e-mail: jrdairysheep@execulink.com
CANADIAN
CO-OPERATIVE
WOOL GROWERS
LIMITED
b' '. , ,N2.
Now Available
WOOL ADVANCE PAYMENTS
Skirted Fleeces
Well -Packed Sacks
For more information contact.
WINGHAM
WOOL DEPOT
John Farrell
R.R. 2, Wingham, Ontario
Phone/Fax 519-357-1058
6 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Time out to smell the roses
Robert
Mercer was
editor of the
Broadwater
Market Letter
and
commentator
for 25 years.
It often seems that unless you have
friends or relatives visiting, you don't
take time or make the effort to see
"the sights" right close to home. We
have that feeling of "there's always
tomorrow", and we put off. For
instance 1 don't think we ever went to
Niagara Falls when we lived in
Ontario unless we were taking a
visitor or attending a conference.
This past month "tomorrow"
became "today" and we took time out
to visit one of British Columbia's
major destination attractions. We
went to the Butchart Gardens, a place
I had never seen before. This year is
the anniversary of their 100 years "In
Bloom". The gardens are part of the
old Butchart family estate of 130
acres, just 20 kms. north of Victoria.
These gardens are different
because they are nurtured in an old
limestone quarry that was part of the
Butchart cement business. In the
early years all the required soil was
brought in to cover the stone floor of
the quarry from local farms by horse
and cart. There were no bulldozers or
earth movers back in 1904.
I think that what we liked most
about our visit was the simplicity of
their floral designs and the neatness
of the grounds, buildings, parking
lots and visitor areas. They were
nearly spotless. Although there were
crowds of people there was still a
majestic feeling of harmony and
peace.
In the 55 acres of the garden areas,
the grass was as green as bowling
lawns, the flower beds were picked
clean of all deadheads or wilting
plants and the employees were hard
to spot. The gardeners — of whom
there are 60 — come in at 6:00 a.m. to
2:00 p.m., do most of their work in
the public areas before the bus loads
of tourists arrive. They then disappear
into the background to do other
chores which include supplying an
unending flow of replacement
annuals, biennials and perennials.
As much as I was fascinated by
the array of flowers and shrubs that
were so much better and more
fragrant than ours, I was most
impressed by the trees. Not only were
there ornamental trees, but there was
a large selection of native trees of
B.C. in excellent shape and of great
stature. Many of the other Asian and
European trees were planted by the
original owners Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Pim Butchart some 100 or more years
ago.
There can be a certain simplicity
in patterns and colours of fields
across the Prairies with wheat, barley,
flax and canola lending a mix that
comes together naturally to form a
spectacular vista. At Butchart
Gardens it was all planned by
species, size, groups, colour, height
and the timing of the blossom, to
form a planned, yet natural look. You
were not overwhelmed since many
choices were simple selections of
daisies (bellis) and Poor Man's
Grchid, sometimes known as the
Butterfly Flower (schizanthus).
Even the use of pansies blended
the necessities into the natural to the
extent that they were bedded into a
tray sunk into the top of the wooden
garbage bins.
This was a tourist attraction
without much of the glitter of
commercialization. There were gift
shops, visitors centers and coffee
shops, but none of it in the garden
area. It's a big business at Butchart
with 600 employees and a full -colour,
32 -page flower guide for each visitor.
The accompanying info sheet and
map was available in 18 different
languages.
Niche marketing and direct
marketing may be a growing segment
of the farm/urban interface, but if you
want to see how destination -location
centres cater to their clients, Butchart
does it right down to the availability
of loaner strollers, dog lepshes,
wheelchairs and umbrellas.0