Orchids Inside

The house itself and the outdoor gardens at the Biltmore Estate are so enticing that people sometimes fail to visit the greenhouse bordering the walled gardens.  And they miss a wonderful sight.

The 7,500 square-foot greenhouse, with its forty-foot high glass ceilings is a sight to behold.  There are many varieties of exotic plants there, but we were particularly interested in seeing the orchids.  The initial order for orchids in 1895 was for 800.  Today the greenhouse is home to far more than that, each one more lovely than the one before.  I did not write the names of any of the orchids, simply admired them and grabbed a quick photograph of a few.

 The ferns, palms, and other exotic plants making up the very first order for the greenhouse cost $1,600.00, quite a fortune in 1895.

 The 12,000 square-foot basement underneath houses the heating system for maintaining the tropical warmth of the greenhouse.  The boiler fed heating system originally used coal and was manned round the clock to hand stoke the furnaces.  The system now uses natural gas.

 The greenhouse is a perfect winter respite when the weather is cold and dreary.  It is pleasant in summer as well albeit a bit humid as one might expect.

 This orchid blossoms into insect-appearing blooms.  Fascinating. (You may want to click to enlarge)

 And what could make a visit in the greenhouse with these showy plants appear even more lovely?  A soloist playing beautiful music.  Her wonderful performance echoed throughout the greenhouse.  What a treat.

Roses Everywhere

Roses in full bloom.  Last week we went to the Biltmore Estate specifically to see the rose gardens.  It was the weekend for the International Rose Trials.  And we were not disappointed.  The day was quite hot, overcast, and humid.  For the first time in my memory there was not even a small breeze.  But we were not there for the weather.  We were there for the roses.

Kahlil Gibran said,
The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns,
The pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the roses.

We were not oblivious to the roses.  And since one is obviously forbidden to touch them, we didn't even think about thorns.  In the age of digital photography, one cannot stop taking pictures.  Far too many to share, so I will show you a sampling of the gardens.

One single beautiful rose

 I especially love the "old world roses."  The roses in this part of the garden are from centuries-old stock.

  

 Lots of climbing roses, displayed in beautiful forms

Roses

Roses everywhere

Of all sizes and colors

And each one lovely

 We wandered above the rose garden and found more beautiful flowers.

 I especially loved the pansies.  Such sweet little flowers

A person could spend hours admiring the gardens

Despite the oppressive weather, we had a great time.  And the weather made the ice cream all the more delicious.  After all, what's a visit to the Biltmore Estate without a stop at the dairy bar?

Favorite Statue

 

 

Exquisite statues abound at the Biltmore Estate.  Some are within the house, others in the gardens.  My favorite statue stands alone on a hill overlooking the estate.  It is the statue of Diana, goddess of the hunt.

 

Diana is the twin of Apollo and prefers to live in the high mountains and in sacred woods.  What better place for her than the Biltmore Estate?

 

 

The beautiful Diana

 

 

 

Her trusty hunting dog beside her, she watches over the Estate

Only a few years ago, Diana wasn't often seen by the public.  She stands atop a rather steep hill and there are no gardens or other statues nearby.  With the increasing popularity of the Biltmore Estate for weddings, a luxurious tent on a permanent brick foundation has been erected behind the statue.  It is large enough to host 500 guests for weddings and sit-down dinners, even more for "simple" receptions.  It is indeed a wonderful place but I rather dislike the intrusive tent.

Fridays Are Golden

 

 

 

Can you believe it?  We're at the last weekend in May?  And as we celebrate Memorial Day, we also unofficially welcome summer.



 

We have had stormy weather and lots more rain this week.  No surprise that parts of Transylvania Country are considered rain forests.  And as we have these minor weather patterns our thoughts still go out to those in devastated Oklahoma.

 

 

Surprisingly enough, this time Ellie has most of the bed.

But Lucy still maintains the upper paw.

 

 

 

Such a sweet face...

 

 

 

And Ellie deep in thought...

 

 

 

I told you I couldn't stop taking pictures of the Biltmore Gardens

As we approach this Memorial Day, let us pause and remember those who have helped make our country great by their sacrifices.

Trappist monk, Thomas Merton provides this week's quote:

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another."

HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!!

 

 



Fridays Are Golden

 

 

Our lot slopes so that our deck is on the second story at the back of the house.  We are eye level with the forest and the birds and the girls just love being out there.  Oh, the sounds and smells.

 

 

Ellie is trying to figure out where the hummingbird went.

 

 

 

She feels a bit foolish.

...what?...

 

 

 

Proof that the dogs do not always share a single  bed.

 

 

 

But more often than not they do, thanks to Lucy.

 

 

 

I'm ever so glad we live so near the Biltmore Estate.  There is so much to see and do.  We go over there several times a month and love to see the changing gardens and walk the trails.  Oh, and get a scoop of ice cream.

 

 

Yet another shot at the Biltmore azaleas.

The quote for this week is about kindness.  Our vitriolic Congress seems to be lacking in kindness, courtesy and compassion.  So all of us need to pick up the slack.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama said:

"Be kind whenever possible." He added, "It is always possible."

Be kind to those you meet, even if you don't even like them.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!!

 

 



Fridays Are Golden

 

 

The rains have stopped for a while and the streams are reducing their swells.  Most roads are open again except for those with rock slides.  Our weather is still very labile but today is beautiful and for that we are indeed thankful.

 

 

I thought I would share another couple of photographs from the Biltmore Estate.  I just cannot stop taking pictures when we are there.

 

Some of the tulips in the walled garden.

 

 

 

Wisteria, looking more like the deep South than NC.

 

 

 

The dog photographs once again show Lucy's version of sharing.

 

I just take most of the bed.  Ellie can have what's leftover.

 

 

 

Somehow Ellie doesn't seem to mind being pushed under the chair.

 

 

 

 

This week's quote about sharing is from The Buddha:

 

 

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.  Happiness never decreased by being shared."

 

 

So share the happiness this week.  However much you have.

 

 



HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!!

 

HONOR YOUR MOTHER

 

 

 

Mountain Girl Perfume

We drove over to the Biltmore Estate again today to see the tulips.  The day was overcast, but no problem.  We go over a couple of times most months anyway and it was nice to get out and walk on the trails there.

We saw tulips.  Lots and lots of tulips

And the azalea gardens were near peak.  Only a bit of sun could have made them more beautiful

But I was drawn to a large shrub that grows wild all over the NC mountains and Piedmont.  I haven't seen one for a while.

Calycanthus floridus

We had these shrubs growing in our woods when I was a child.  My mother told me they were sweet bubbies.  (OK, she actually called them sweet boobies.)  She said that she and her six sisters would gather them in the summer and put them inside their bras to use as perfume, so apparently the legend of their use is actually true.  (Vanilla was the winter perfume.)

Known as Carolina allspice, sweet shrub, sweet shade as well as sweet bubby bush, (and probably many other names) all parts of this plant are fragrant.  The leaves, the flowers, and the stems.  You can smell a sweet shrub bush from quite a distance when it is blooming.  Seeing and smelling the plant made me think of my mother and our childhood summer activities when we played outdoors from morning until dinner and then went back out and played in the twilight.  Games that are probably not known to today's children; "Ghosts in the graveyard," "Ain't no bears out tonight," "Kick the can," "Freeze tag," and so many more.

A word of caution about sweet shrub:  don't be fooled by the name Carolina allspice.  It is NOT the allspice used for flavoring; in fact many parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested.

My husband laughed that of all the wondrous flowers and trees at the Biltmore, I should have taken a picture of this rather plain looking shrub.  Let him laugh.  I plan to buy at least one for him to plant.

More From the Top of the Mansion

No matter how often we visit the Biltmore Estate, we always find some details we had not noticed before.  Even places normally hidden from sight contain amazing artwork.

This view of a top-floor wall is not visible from the front of the house,

yet the detailed artwork is just as carefully done.

Most of the statuary include animals with long tails.

This one, however, has a butt crack.

Another bit of proof that the artists had a sense of humor.

Amazing relief containing components from the Coat of Arms of both George Vanderbilt and his wife.

Animal figures are everywhere.

The bronze plaques in detail.

From the ground the details are hardly detectable.

We always stop in the garden, this time to see the mums.

The Christmas at Biltmore decorations are in place and the estate is in full swing for another round of tourists.  We will select a day in mid-week to avoid a bit of the crowds.  And while passholders were encouraged to visit before Thanksgiving, I say "no thanks."  I refuse to relinquish a single day of Thanksgiving to rush the Christmas season.  Time passes fast enough, thank you very much.

Fridays Are Golden

Bright sunshine, pouring rain, wind and calm.  That has been our weather this week.  The Golden Girls hate rain.  They don't like walking in it and they especially don't like getting dried off.  So they are not excited about the crazy humans who insist they need to take long walks, rain or no.  Afterward they spend a lot of time in their beds.

Despite the fact that we have two large beds in both the den and the great room, the dogs are almost always sharing the same bed thanks to Lucy.

Lucy starts by taking her half of the bed from the middle.

As she stretches out, Ellie is pushed further and further off the bed.

Finally Ellie's head is under the chair.  Only her hind quarters are on the bed.

You know how sometimes you bring something into the conversation that is totally off subject?  Usually it's because you have seen or heard something interesting and want to share it with your friends.  Well, blogger friends, I just need to show this to you for no reason whatsoever.

We took the architect's tour at the Biltmore Estate.  The tour takes you all the way up the spiral staircase to the observatory room.  And from there it takes you up a wrought iron spiral staircase to the roof.  And then to the highest areas on each side of the house, about eight stories up.  The day was perfect, sunny and mild.  The mountains were clear and you could see forever.  Some had never seen our mountain color and even described the view as a religious experience.

I took several photographs of the beauty and then my attention was caught by the gargoyles up there.  They are smaller gargoyles than the large ones visible from the ground and can barely be seen except for those at the top of the mansion.  And I thought to myself that at least one of the architects had a great sense of humor.  So there I stood, silly me.  Most on the tour were filled with awe looking at the mountains with their impressive Autumn views and I'm laughing at the gargoyles who have exposed boobs.  To my credit, I was laughing silently and did not once point at the boobs.  So while I definitely have not grown up, at least my decorum has improved over the middle school kids.

This was my favorite.

Time is passing by as we approach this very important election.  Early voting began here in NC yesterday.  I'm hoping that we might get a little respite from the constant ugly advertising since we are already voting.  Probably not.

Today's political quote comes form sci-fi author Orson Scott Card:

If pigs could vote, the man with the slop bucket would be elected swineherd every time; no matter how much slaughtering he did on the side.

And this from political comedian Jon Stewart:

You have to remember one thing about the will of the people; it wasn't that long ago we were swept up by the Macarena.


Whatever is going on in your lives, I wish you well.  Enjoy this fall and do something fun every day.  Laugh out loud at least once a day even if you have to struggle to find the humor.

HAVE A WONDERFUL AUTUMN WEEKEND, EVERYONE!

Don't Forget the Greenhouse

Easter egg hunts fill the weekend all over the country.  Perhaps the largest one around here takes place at the Biltmore Estate.  The children dash about picking up the eggs all over the lawn.  Story tellers and magicians provide additional entertainment.

Photograph from The Asheville Citizen-Times

Photographer: John Fletcher

Regular readers know that we visit the Biltmore Estate frequently.  We tend to focus on outside activities or the "special" guided tours.  On a recent visit we decided to go through the greenhouses.  While all the plants are impressive, the orchids grabbed my attention.

I love orchids and have grown them (one at a time) in the past.  They bloom for a very long time.  But then they stop blooming for a very long time and the plants without blossoms are not all that attractive.  My neighbor has a perfect place for growing orchids.  It's a bay window and she had the contractor put a large sunken area with a shallow sink in the window sill.  The sink has a liner containing rocks and water.  Fifteen or more orchids sit on these rocks and thrive.  At any given time she has so many of them blooming that one totally overlooks the other plants.  I'm glad she grows them.

I'm not a golf fan.  I never watch more than recaps of shots on television.  But you just have to love it when a man named "Bubba,"  a Floridian who went to college in Georgia, who never took a  golf lesson in his life, wins the coveted Green Jacket of the Master's Tournament.

Lovely Flowers

The annual Biltmore Estate Festival of Flowers is set for April 7-May 20.  Because of our early spring this year, we decided to visit last week.  We were not disappointed.  The profusion of tulips is a sight to behold.  The flowers will still be gorgeous all during the Festival but I cannot imagine they will be any better than what we saw.

The Lady on the Hill

Here's a sample of what we saw:
NOTE:  I had to change the way the slide show was presented because it ran for a while then stopped accessing.  So I switched to the "video" function which is keeping it on the post but makes for much less crisp images.  So don't make it full screen or it will be even worse  Sorry.

An unexpected bonus for us?  It was Passholder Appreciation Day with extra discounts in all of the shops.  If you ever travel in the Asheville, NC area, you really should spend a couple of days at the Biltmore Estate.  Grandeur on a grand scale.

These Turkeys are Already Thankful

Wild turkeys live amongst us in our community.  And this year seems to have been a very successful breeding year for them.  In the late summer we saw large flocks of hens and poults together wandering through our woods.  Now that the poults have grown up, we see fewer large flocks but still a lot of turkeys.  They are pretty much indifferent to our cars and it is not uncommon to find a car stopped in the road waiting for the turkeys to cross.

One of the turkeys prepares to cross the road in front of us.

 The other one soon follows.

 This one does a turkey trot on the way.

These turkeys will not be Thanksgiving dinner for anyone and I think they are already thankful for that.  A vegan friend visited us and remarked on the beautiful turkeys we saw.  I knew she was silently thinking, "How can she eat such a beautiful intelligent bird?"  I have a confession to make.  I have been in the midst of Thanksgiving dinner only to look out and see a wild turkey or two.  I was doubly thankful for the turkey in the yard and the one on my table.  We buy a fresh organic turkey every year, from a local farmer who raises them with compassion.  They live a comfortable life.  (Well, up until the time they are slaughtered.)  Thanksgiving dinner is without a doubt my favorite meal of the year.  And I am thankful for the turkey that makes it possible. 

Can you stand another couple of photographs of the Bass Pond?  The day was so calm and beautiful that the pond was like a mirror reflecting the opposite shore.

A Visit to the Bass Pond

Regular readers know that we often visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.  Because we go often, we usually focus on one area.  For our visit last week, we decided to take the easy hike (more like a stroll) down to the Bass Pond.  Of course, we had to stop in the garden to see the mums so beautifully planted.

A glimpse through the gate gives a hint of what's in store.

 A profusion of mums in all different colors.

 The cypress knees look like a scene from a Tolkien novel.

 The water is calm and lovely.

 Some trees are bare but some color remains.

 Even the spillway is a work of art.

The arched bridge is also a work of art.

There were dozens of places one could have stopped and just sat, drinking in the color and the beauty of this magnificent and peaceful place.  We are indeed fortunate to have access to this wonderful place in all seasons.

Every visit to the estate brings the question of where we will have lunch.  In spite of the really great places to eat, we always wind up at the same location every time.  Where is that?  The Dairy Bar, of course.  Fresh ice cream made on the grounds.  It hardly gets any better than that.

Just a note about football and the Green Bay Packers.  They remain undefeated although Sunday's game gave us a bit of a fright.  Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw touchdown passes to four different receivers and completed 21 of 26 passes during the game.  Right now there is not a better quarterback in the NFL.  We have nearly forgotten the previous Packer quarterback...Brett something or other.  [A note to Brett:  We're just fine if you go into the Football Hall of Fame with your #4 Viking jersey.]