Biltmore Estate gardens - Asheville, North Carolina

Flower & Garden Magazine, April-May, 1994 by Ellen Henke

On the Outskirts of Asheville, North Carolina, in a place totally surrounded by the spectacular Blue Ridge Mountains, stands the Biltmore Estate, noted in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest single-family home. The grandson of railroad magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt and youngest son of William H. Vanderbilt (the richest man in America in his day), George Washington Vanderbilt commissioned his colleague and friend, Richard Morris Hunt, to begin work on the 255-room mansion in 1890.

The formal gardens were left to Frederick Law Olmsted, acknowledged as the father of American landscape architecture and designer of Central Park in New York City. To assure the success of his biggest (and last) commission, Olmsted sought advice from some of America's greatest horticultural and forestry experts of the time: Chauncey Delos Beadle, Charles Sargent and Gifford Pinchot.

Roads and waterways were laid out under Olmsted's direction and several thousand acres of forest and farmland were landscaped. A part of the forest, which served as a model of timber management in its time, is now included in the spectacular Pisgah National Forest.

Secluded three miles inside the entrance gates and sited on a hillside with a remarkable view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Mount Pisgah in the distance, the mansion took five years to complete. The approach road begins in lowlands adjacent to the slow-moving Swannanoa River. It meanders alongside tree groves and past farm fields before it begins a gradual ascent through a deep valley clothed in a forest of grand pines, hemlocks and rhododendrons. Mountain laurels, rhododendrons and other flowering shrubs provide splashes of seasonal color as the road climbs through a forest of oak, tulip poplars, native dogwoods and other deciduous woodland specimens planted at the turn of the century. Not even the most spectacular photographs will completely prepare you to the scene that awaits at the end of the trek through glade and forest, past pools and waterfalls - the grand French chateau complete with a reflecting pool.

Although the house dominates the scene, to the right are rows of tulip poplars standing at attention and to the left is a double retaining wall and access ramp patterned after Vaux-le-Vicomte near Paris. Atop the grand rampe douce is a glorious view of the house and mountain scenery behind it. Below is an arbor of wisteria and trumpet creeper that cover the library terrace.

The view at the end of the terrace, for as far as the naked eye can see, is the mountain scenery that captivated the heart of the 24-year-old Vanderbilt in the mid-1800s. From the moment he happened upon it while vacationing with his mother in Asheville, Vanderbilt called it "the most beautiful spot in the world," and knew it was the place for his dream house. Olmsted's masterful blending of the formal gardens surrounding the chateau with the natural landscape and misty mountain vistas is impressive. the effect of this now-mature landscape is soft, romantic, picturesque and evocative of the bucolic English countryside, exactly as Olmsted intended.

The south terrace with a tea house and the lower Italian garden, featuring a terrace of grass interrupted by paths and three formal pools, combine to serve as an extension of the house. Here nature is completely controlled, making one acutely aware of the design and symmetry. Plants are secondary to the geometry of the spaces; it is the statuary, jardinieres, pools and architectural elements that dominate.

The Italian garden, situated on a lower terrace, features various aquatic plants in pools including the sacred lotus of Egypt. At the bottom of the the broad stone stairway from the Italian garden is the imposing pergola draped in purple wisteria and orange trumpet creeper.

The winding walks of the Ramble, a shrub garden, create a romantic, almost impressionist, mood with perfectly combined plantings of trees and shrubs. Although Olmsted's vision for an arboretum at Biltmore was never achieved, the collection on this estate is outstanding and features many rare collectibles such as dawn redwood (Metasequoia), Franklinia and Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica) that were added in the 1940s.

The gateway at the lower edge of the shrub garden leads into a fouracre walled garden, one of the largest walled gardens in America. Inside this garden, which traps the sunshine and keeps out the wind, is a formal garden that combines flowers into an elaborate tapestry. The beds, worked and replanted three times a year, feature tulips in the spring, fantastic combinations of bedding plants in summer and chrysanthemums for a grand fall finale.

Crape myrtles, double-flowering dogwoods and other small specimen trees empower the design within the walled garden. These trees have been carefully chosen to provide interest in all seasons: beautiful flowers, colorful foliage and architectural plant forms. Fruit trees and decorative shrubs are espaliered on the wall. Extensive perennial borders feature many turn-of-the century heirloom varieties.