Flower Carpet at Biltmore

A few weeks ago we visited the beautiful flower carpet at Biltmore. We made it on the last day of exhibition, as it was being taken down the next day for a wedding the following weekend.



The carpet was inspired by a fleur de lis pattern carved into original columns inside the Biltmore house. It took the garden designers over 100 hours to incorporate 100,000 flowers into the design that covers the 1/4 acre esplanade next to the Biltmore house.



Iresine and dusty miller were used to compose the border.



Marigold and salvia formed the swirling spiral patterns.



Begonia, scaevola and zinnia added bursts of geometric color to the design.



Maybe I'll turn my front yard into a flower carpet next year. Just kidding! I don't want to dig that much!

We were glad to catch sight of the flower carpet before it was gone forever. (Even though that tacky white tent in the upper left corner tried to ruin all my pictures.)



Did you know they just throw all those plants away? I suggested to a friend who works at Biltmore that they have a "free plants" day to invite passholders to take the plants. I bet we would haul those plants out of there faster than their work crew could! I know I would bring my wheel barrow and both cars to get as many as I could carry!