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| George and Betsy at Biltmore on June 14, 2012 |
As most of you know, George and I have season's passes to the Biltmore House and Gardens in Asheville, North Carolina... We try to get over there every couple of months to see what is blooming... AND--we are never disappointed when we get there...
Last June (2011), we took our big trip out west--so we didn't get to Biltmore to check out the summer flowers... This year, we decided to try it!! We left the house bright and early on June 14 ---and got stuck in a long-long-long traffic jam on I-40 near the TN/NC line.... There was nowhere to go except just SIT and be patient.... An 18-wheeler had turned over and our side of the interstate was closed.....
SO---needless to say, after losing over an hour and a half in traffic that day, we didn't have much of our day left to spend at Biltmore... BUT---we did make it there and enjoyed that quick trip!!!!! Luckily, we didn't have any trouble getting home that night ---and in fact, we took some of the prettiest sunset/sky pictures we've taken in a long time... IF you missed seeing those pictures, click
HERE. You do not want to miss seeing that sunset. Seeing the flowers at Biltmore is nice, but OH ---that beautiful sunset!!!! The sunset made the day really worthwhile.
One reason to visit Biltmore in June is to see their huge ROSE COLLECTION. There are over 200 varieties of heirloom and hybrid roses.... As you can imagine, we enjoyed seeing all of their roses... BUT--there are other summer flowers blooming in June... So--today I'll show you a little of what we saw at Biltmore on June 14. Be sure to enlarge the photos for bigger copies.
This picture shows just a tiny portion of all of their beautiful roses... But--both George and I particularly loved this group of roses (named Milestone)...
Amazing how the Biltmore Gardeners go from season to season displaying different flowers... This is a picture of some of the summer flowers in their big Walled Garden. In Spring, one will see Daffodils, Hyacinths and Tulips... In Summer, we saw Dahlias, Zinnias and Globe Amaranth... THEN--when we come back in Fall, we'll see Chrysanthemums. Nice, huh?
We also love seeing the Italian Gardens during the summer --with their beautiful water lilies...
George took this picture of me at the Italian Gardens. It was a HOT day when we were there ---and I was taking advantage of some SHADE (since there wasn't much in that area)....
The Italian Gardens are close to the gorgeous Biltmore Home... Here you can see a reflection of part of the house in the water. Isn't that a great reflection?
We always enjoy walking in the area next to the house to get some pictures of the beautiful mountains in the background. I snapped this picture of George in that area.
Finally, I'll stop with a picture of one of my favorite Summer flowers, the Gladiola. My Mom had Glads in our yard when I was growing up... I tried one year to get them to grow here ---but the area where I put them didn't have enough sun. SO--they didn't do well. They are gorgeous though at Biltmore.
Hope you enjoyed another installment from the beautiful Biltmore Home and Gardens....
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I just HAVE to show you this cute little picture of a 'baby' Downy Woodpecker. Mama was at the suet feeder --and the little one didn't know exactly how to get up there... TOO CUTE!!!!
Have a wonderful day.
Hugs,
Betsy
