The Abkhazi Garden was created in Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, in 1946 by Prince and Princess Abkhazi. [1] The garden is known as 'the garden that love built' and was developed by Prince Nicolas Abkhazi and Princess Marjorie ('Peggy') Abkhazi (born Marjorie Mable Jane Carter, later Marjorie Mable Jane Pemberton-Carter) over the decades that they owned the property on Fairfield Road. [2] [3]
Prince Nicolas Abkhazi fled Georgia for France soon after the start of the Russian Revolution. He met Peggy there in 1922. [2] During World War Two he joined the French army and was captured as a prisoner of war by the Germans. [4] Peggy meanwhile had returned to Shanghai where she was interned by the Japanese from 1943 too 1945. [3] They were reunited in New York in 1946 and later moved to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada where they remained the rest of their lives. [2] Not long after their deaths the garden was purchased by The Land Conservancy of British Columbia with plans to steward the land as a garden in perpetuity to memorialize and share the story of the Prince and Princess Abkhazi. [5] [6]
The garden is approximately one acre and features pathways of crushed gravel and stone paths that wind their way under rhododendron plants with different coloured flowers that have grown to the size of trees. Under the rhododendrons grow smaller flowers, ferns, and other shade tolerant plants. [7] In the centre of the garden is a tea house and gift shop.
A proposal was submitted in March 2022 to protect the garden by transferring the denser zoning of the property to a nearby property and submission of a request to officially recognize the property as a heritage property in the city of Victoria. [8] This is after the city tried to impose a heritage designation that met resistance from The Land Conservancy of British Columbia while it underwent restructuring and sought to sell some properties to maintain financial stability. [9] The Land Conservancy was later able to sell the parking spot that had been heritage designated by the city on Foul Bay Road and no longer required creditor protection by 2017. [10] [11] The fee to enter the Abkhazi garden is by a suggested donation of ten dollars.
Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The city of Victoria is the seventh most densely populated city in Canada with 4,406 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,410/sq mi).
Frogmore is an estate within the Home Park, adjoining Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England. It comprises 33 acres (130,000 m2), of primarily private gardens managed by the Crown Estate. It is the location of Frogmore House, a royal retreat, and Frogmore Cottage. The name derives from the preponderance of frogs which have always lived in this low-lying and marshy area near the River Thames. This area is part of the local flood plain. Its large landscaped gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Gulf Islands National Park Reserve is a national park located on and around the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada. In the National Parks System Plan, this park provides representation of the Strait of Georgia Lowlands natural region, the only place in Canada with a Mediterranean climate of dry, sunny summers and mild, wet winters, the result of a rain shadow effect from surrounding mountains between the region and the ocean. It has similar dominant vegetation as the Pacific Northwest, such as coastal Douglas-fir, western red cedar, shore pine, Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, and red alder, but also contains the northern extent of some of the more drought tolerant trees such as Garry oak and Arbutus. The park was created in 2003 as the fortieth national park. It covers 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi) of area on 16 islands and more than 30 islets, reefs and surrounding waters, making it the sixth smallest national park in Canada.
The Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC) is a not-for-profit, charitable land trust based in British Columbia, Canada.
Qualicum Beach is a town located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. In the 2021 census, it had a population of 9,303. It is situated at the foot of Mount Arrowsmith, along the Strait of Georgia on Vancouver Island's northeastern coast.
David Holmes Black, is a Canadian media proprietor who founded and is the majority owner of Black Press Group Ltd. He serves as the company's chairman, and previously served as its chief executive officer and president.
Rob Fleming is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2005 provincial election, defeating the one-term Liberal Party incumbent, Sheila Orr. Initially representing Victoria-Hillside, he was re-elected in subsequent elections in the renamed constituency of Victoria-Swan Lake. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, he was named to the cabinet of British Columbia in July 2017 as Minister of Education, before assuming his current post as Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure in November 2020. Prior to entering provincial politics, he was a city councillor in Victoria, British Columbia from 1999 to 2005.
Prince Konstantine (Kote) Abkhazi, was a Georgian military officer, politician and public figure. During the Imperial Russian rule, he was a General-major of Artillery in the tsar's army (1916) and in the national army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918), and a recognized leader of the liberal nobility of Georgia. After the Soviet Occupation of Georgia, he emerged as one of the leaders of an underground anti-Soviet, national-liberation movement. One of the founders of the Tbilisi State University in 1918 and Chairman of the Georgian National-Democratic Party in 1921–1923. In 1923, he was arrested and executed by the Soviet security police. In 2023, he was posthumously awarded the title and Order of National Hero of Georgia.
The Chinatown in Victoria, British Columbia is the oldest Chinatown in Canada and the second oldest in North America after San Francisco. Victoria's Chinatown had its beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century in the mass influx of miners from California to what is now British Columbia in 1858. It remains an actively inhabited place and continues to be popular with residents and visitors, many of whom are Chinese-Canadians. Victoria's Chinatown is now surrounded by cultural, entertainment venues as well as being a venue itself. Chinatown is now conveniently just minutes away from other sites of interests such as the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, Bay Centre, Empress Hotel, Market Square, and others.
Clo-oose is an area adjacent to the mouth of the Cheewhat River on the west coast of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Within the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, the former steamboat stop is by road and trail about 102 kilometres (63 mi) south of Port Alberni and 119 kilometres (74 mi) west of Duncan.
BC Cancer is part of the Provincial Health Services Authority in British Columbia, Canada.
Finnerty Gardens is a public woodland garden located on and maintained by the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Its main feature is the sizeable collection of rhododendrons artfully arranged throughout the 2.7 hectare site. There are 500 variations of rhododendrons and rhododendron hybrids on the grounds, in addition to 1,600 trees and shrubs, mostly of native varieties. There are numerous paths and benches throughout the garden winding through and around three ponds located on the site.
The Craigflower Manor and Craigflower Schoolhouse are National Historic Sites of Canada located in View Royal, British Columbia and Saanich near Victoria. The centerpiece of each historic site is a 19th-century building — a manor and schoolhouse commissioned by the Hudson's Bay Company to provide education and lodging for their employees. Built as part of the agricultural community Craigflower Farm, the buildings served as a focal point for the community into the modern era; they remain open to the public today as museums devoted to the colonial history of Victoria.
The Elk/Beaver Regional Park is a 1,072-acre (434 ha) park in Saanich, British Columbia, containing Elk Lake and Beaver Lake.
Victoria Harbour is a harbour, seaport, and seaplane airport in the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia. It serves as a cruise ship and ferry destination for tourists and visitors to the city and Vancouver Island. It is both a port of entry and an airport of entry for general aviation. Historically it was a shipbuilding and commercial fishing centre. While the Inner Harbour is fully within the City of Victoria, separating the city's downtown on its east side from the Victoria West neighbourhood, the Upper Harbour serves as the boundary between the City of Victoria and the district municipality of Esquimalt. The inner reaches are also bordered by the district of Saanich and the town of View Royal. Victoria is a federal "public harbour" as defined by Transport Canada. Several port facilities in the harbour are overseen and developed by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, however the harbour master's position is with Transport Canada.
Apkhazi was a princely family in Georgia, a branch of the Shervashidze family from Abkhazia.
In Canada, a number of sites and structures are named for royal individuals, whether a member of the past French royal family, British royal family, or present Canadian royal family thus reflecting the country's status as a constitutional monarchy under the Canadian Crown. Those who married into the royal family are indicated by an asterisk (*). Charles Edward Stuart was a pretender to the British throne.
Horseshoe Bay is a major ferry terminal owned and operated by BC Ferries in British Columbia, Canada. Located in the community of Horseshoe Bay, a neighbourhood of West Vancouver, the terminal provides a vehicle ferry link from the Lower Mainland to Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, and to Bowen Island, a small island in the southern part of Howe Sound.
The 40th Parliament of British Columbia was in session from June 26, 2013, to April 11, 2017. It consisted of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, as elected by the general election of May 14, 2013, and the Queen represented by the Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon. That election unexpectedly returned the BC Liberal Party to another absolute majority government, their fourth consecutive government since 2001, this time with Christy Clark who had been premier since 2011. The BC New Democratic Party formed the official opposition under Adrian Dix and John Horgan who replaced Dix in the 2014 leadership election. The first member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Green Party of BC, Andrew J. Weaver served in this parliament, along with independent Vicki Huntington. Three MLAs resigned: Jenny Kwan and Douglas Horne who resigned to stand in a federal election, as well as Ben Stewart who resigned for the purpose of providing the Premier, who had lost her seat in the general election, with another opportunity to gain a seat. The by-elections to replace the resigned members Clark won Stewart's Kelowna riding, while Melanie Mark and Jodie Wickens replaced Kwan and Horne, respectively. The only members to leave their party, Marc Dalton briefly left the BC Liberals as he unsuccessfully sought the Conservative Party nomination in the federal election, and Pat Pimm left the BC Liberal Party just prior to being arrested.
The Ross Bay Villa is a historic house museum, at 1490 Fairfield Road in Victoria, British Columbia, owned and operated by the Ross Bay Villa Society. The single-family home, built in 1865, is a Heritage Designated building in the City of Victoria. The Villa is one of only about 10 residences in Victoria known to survive from before 1870.