A Magical Carpet
This past weekend, the city of Brussels, Belgium, rolled out its 2016 Flower Carpet — and this is no ordinary rug. It is quite the display of flowers in action.
Every two years, La Grand Place, the central square of Brussels, is transformed into an “ephemeral tapestry” of flowers to pay tribute to Belgium’s history of international relations. This is the 20th anniversary of the Flower Carpet, a tradition that began back in 1971.
The design of this year’s carpet is meant to commemorate the 150-year relationship between Belgium and Japan.
The 2016 carpet is made up of more than 600,000 begonias as well as dahlias, grasses and other plants. The entire carpet measures 250 feet long and 80 feet wide — that’s more than 20,000 square feet of begonias.
It’s hard to believe, but the whole thing is built in less than eight hours by approximately 100 volunteer horticulturists, gardeners and helpers.
The designers of the 2016 Flower Carpet are Mark Schautteet, a graphic designer from Belgium, and Fujie Suzuki, a graphic designer from Japan.
Suzuki and Schautteet drew their “inspiration from Japanese representations of flowers, birds, the wind and the moon to depict the beauty of nature.”
“The patterns and symbols of the flower carpet express happiness and peace,” Suzuki added.
Officials in Brussels take great civic pride in the creation and display of the Flower Carpet. “The Grand-Place has always been an ideal setting for the Flower Carpet … this tapestry of stone-weaved lace perfectly complements the splendid floral patterns. This ephemeral fusion contributes to the repute of our Capital, which reaches well beyond its borders,” said Yvan Mayeur, magistrate of the City of Brussels.
Click here to see several photos of what the before, during and after of the carpet creation look like.
While not every city can roll out a floral carpet like Brussels does, this is just a great example of how growers and communities can put our industry’s products on display for everyone to enjoy. Are you doing anything like this (big or small) in your area?
P.S. Last week, we posted some photos from the 2016 Michigan Garden Plant Tour on Facebook. We also took the GPN drone to Mast Young Plants and shot a short video of their display gardens. Click here to check it out.
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