Article
Jennie Butchart
Jeannette (Jennie) Foster Butchart (née Kennedy), gardener, hostess (born February 1865 in Toronto, ON; died 12 December 1950 in Victoria, BC). Butchart created one of British Columbia’s top tourist attractions, Butchart Gardens, on her family’s estate on Vancouver Island. From 1904 to 1939, she laid out several formal gardens that included over 900 varieties of plants. Butchart transformed a depleted limestone quarry on the property into the iconic Sunken Garden. For decades, she welcomed tens of thousands of visitors to the gardens each year.