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One of the main tourist attractions of the Victoria area is Butchart Gardens, a former 50-acre gravel pit transformed into a collection of lush gardens by 100 years of obsessive tending. It is a professionally run enterprise; the staff does a fine job of moving cars and crowds through tight spaces.

The most astounding feature of the entire park is the admission price: $21 per person! To see flowers! Here’s my travel tip for everyone visiting Victoria: skip Butchart Gardens. Buy five postcards of the place instead. You and your spouse have just saved $41. Have dinner on me.

We didn’t know how much it would cost until we’d driven a half-hour to get there, so we proceeded with our plan: a picnic lunch followed by a quick tour of the garden’s highlights.

The picnic was not good. We’d bought “wraps” from a cafe in Victoria. Pictured are the remains of my “no cheese” vegetarian wrap; it not only had cheese (cream cheese, in fact, impossible to remove) but about a cup of ranch dressing. It was nasty. So here’s another handy travel tip for Victoria: don’t eat at “Grabba Jabba.” This was our worst meal in seven days.

Just beyond the picnic area was the biggest hedge in the world. I have not consulted the McWhirter brothers (experts on, among many other things, immense shrubbery), but, believe me, it’s that big — about 25 feet tall, with no external supports.

Gratuitous flower closeup. I have no idea what sort of plant this is.

Pictured is the exotic Aquafina Bush. This is an exceptional shot, included not to suggest that the Gardens are poorly mainained. In fact they’re meticulously, even zealously kept. The dirt patches are raked every day, I’m sure. Beds are plucked of dead blooms. Loose petals are collected throughout the day. This bottle can’t have been there for more than a few minutes.

Nearby (but not pictured here) was the equally elusive Aquafina Bottlecap Vine.

My favorite photo from the entire garden shows a post from the bamboo fence in the Japanese Garden. Neat, no?