Fashion blooms at Biltmore this spring!

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Fashion blooms at Biltmore this spring! Join us now through May 21 for Fashion en fleur featuring floral arrangements in Biltmore House and several “surprise guests” whose grand Gilded Age costumes are created entirely from beautiful botanical elements.

Finding fashion cues

Detail of botanical mannequin in Biltmore House Banquet Hall
Each floral figure features exquisite botanical details, like these hydrangea “cuffs” on the dress in the Banquet Hall.

In preparation for spring and the creation of Fashion en fleur, the Floral team met with Lori Garst, Curator, to learn more about fashion during the Vanderbilt era at Biltmore.

“We worked with Lori to learn about different silhouettes that were popular and how they changed over time, as well as styles that would have been worn at Biltmore for different activities at different times of day,” said Lizzie Whitcher, Floral Manager.

Fanciful fashion

Botanical puppy made out of hydrangeas and other materials.
An adorable puppy made of dried hydrangeas accompanies the floral figure in the Banquet Hall.

Though the shapes and styles of the costumes are authentic, the Floral team took a fanciful approach to interpret them, hoping to surprise and delight guests with these art pieces. Botanical material was used to create every detail, from hair and hats to trims, shoes, and even a puppy! 

Billiard Room

For the Billiard Room, Don and Laura designed a gentleman who is dressed for the outdoors, wearing a homburg hat and carrying a fishing pole. The materials used include dried willow reeds, magnolia leaves, moss, birch bark, red eucalyptus leaves and feathers. He is surrounded with fresh potted ferns. 

This floral figure represents a gentleman dressed for the outdoors.
Dressed for the sporting life, you’ll find this floral fellow in the Billiard Room, complete with a botanical bunny at his feet!

Fun fact: Look for little botanical insects, butterflies, and a bunny around this fashionable fellow.

Banquet Hall

Inspired by a dress from the Gilded Age drama series, Joslyn and Marcie created the lovely lady in the Banquet Hall. Her dress is designed with blue craspedia, blue and gold hydrangea, bleached palms, Italian ruscus, hanging amaranthus, star fern, queen flower, willow eucalyptus, and star flower. 

A floral mannequin in the Banquet Hall has a puppy made of hydrangeas in the doll carriage at her feet.
A costume from The Gilded Age dramatic series inspired this stunning ensemble for Fashion in fleur.

Fun fact: This floral figure stands in a garden with a plant-based puppy the team playfully named Gigi. 

Morning Salon

Designed by Callista and Sophie, the floral figure in the Morning Salon wears a costume based on an actual House of Worth dress that features a sun pattern radiating up the skirt. They used blue and green hydrangea, populus eucalyptus, spiral eucalyptus, button flower, preserved roses, Indian paintbrush, orange strawflower, hanging amaranthus, bleached gypsophila, red yarrow, red starflower, red plumosum, and bleached bullet flower to create the striking design.    

A floral figure in a botanical gown based on a real House of Worth fashion design.
This floral figure in the Morning Salon wears a botanical gown based on an actual House of Worth design featuring the rays of the sun across the front of the skirt and beautiful details in back.

Fun fact: The floral designers drew colors from the Monet paintings in the Morning Salon.

In the Tapestry Gallery, Whitney designed a stunning costume that captures the beauty and sense of movement in Edith Vanderbilt’s dramatic dress and wrap in her 1910 Boldini portrait that hangs nearby. Materials include black rose petals, ferns, white oak leaves, bleached hydrangea, blackbeard wheat, star fern, anahaw leaves, dried sun palms, reindeer moss, strawflower, and staavia. 

Floral figure representing the Boldini portrait of Edith Vanderbilt and the actual portrait.
A floral figure (left) in the Tapestry Gallery captures the dramatic look of Edith Vanderbilt’s 1910 portrait (right) by Giovanni Boldini.

Fun fact: Artist Giovanni Boldini was the known as the “Master of Swish” for the way he painted flowing draperies.

Second Floor Living Hall

Fiona and Nikki designed the Second Floor Living Hall dress based on a classic “Gibson Girl” silhouette. This fashionable lady is designed with preserved roses, bunny tails, hydrangea, pampas grass, green sable grass, elephant reed, reindeer moss, pink gypsophila, and parchment fern. Although the materials are all preserved or dried, the lower part of her train will be changed out each week with fresh flowers. Doesn’t she look ready to sweep down the Grand Staircase and go for a garden stroll with her parasol?

Staff members work on a Gibson Girl floral mannequin in Biltmore House
Floral team members put finishing touches on the “garden” that surrounds the Gibson Girl floral figure in the Second Floor Living Hall.

Fun fact: The Gibson Girl fashion style symbolized an ideal “new woman” who signaled a change from the more restrictive Victorian era.

Plan your spring visit now

Spring floral arrangement in the Banquet Hall of Biltmore House.
In addition to our fashionable floral figures, you’ll also enjoy stunning spring arrangements as part of Fashion en fleur.

Spring is the perfect season to visit Biltmore to find our gardens in bloom, enjoy Fashion en fleur, experience the wonders of Luminere on select evenings, and so much more!

Experience Our Annual Biltmore Blooms Celebration

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Enjoy this archived Biltmore Blooms content from Spring 2021!

Experience our annual Biltmore Blooms celebration across the estate as winter loosens its grip to make way for spring!

Gardens and grounds

From the earliest flowering shrubs and vivid blooms in the Walled Garden–including this year’s colorful kaleidoscope of yellow, white, pink, purple, and red tulips in the patterned beds–to the glorious progression of color along the Approach Road, we’ve been delighting guests with our annual Biltmore Blooms celebration for more than three decades.

Azaleas along the Approach Road in spring
The Approach Road to Biltmore House is lined with azaleas each spring

The splendid spring show isn’t limited to the outdoors, however; our Floral and Museum Services teams have worked together to develop an “Art in Bloom” theme featuring beautiful arrangements throughout Biltmore House.

Inspired by Biltmore’s collections

“This year for Biltmore Blooms we are celebrating the fact that George Vanderbilt envisioned Biltmore not just as a home, but also as a platform to showcase the incredible works of art he collected,” said Leslie Klingner, Curator of Interpretation.

“Vanderbilt developed a passion for art early in life,” Leslie said,” and he amassed an impressive collection. To highlight some of these amazing pieces, our floral team has created designs inspired by works throughout Biltmore House.”

Art in Bloom

“Each year during Biltmore Blooms, our floral designs reflect not only the welcome return of spring, but they also showcase the scale and grandeur of America’s Largest Home®,” said Lizzie Borchers, Floral Displays Manager.

Biltmore Blooms arrangement for Third Floor Living Hall in Biltmore House
Floral designer Cristy Leonard creating a larger-than-life arrangement for the Third Floor Living Hall (design inspired by a painting of a ship in that room)

“For ‘Art in Bloom’ in 2021, we envisioned flowers as the paints, pastels, and pencils of spring, turning our arrangements into works of art themselves,” Lizzie said. “When you visit this season, see how our designs highlight the colors, textures, shapes, and forms in the artwork.”

A sneak peek at Biltmore Blooms details!

In the Breakfast Room, Biltmore floral designer Lucinda Ledford drew inspiration from two works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Young Boy with an Orange, painted in 1881, and The Young Algerian Girl, painted in 1882.

Biltmore Blooms floral arrangement highlighting Renoir's
The vibrant colors of Renoir’s “Child with Orange” painting inspired the details of this floral arrangement for the Breakfast Room

Giovanni Boldini’s lovely 1910 portrait of Edith Vanderbilt that hangs in the Tapestry Gallery near the entrance to the Library inspired floral designer Jodee Mitchell to create a sweeping arrangement featuring delicate white flowers and greenery.

Lily of the valley with a sketch for a Biltmore Blooms design
Design sketch for a Biltmore Blooms arrangement featuring lilies of the valley and other white flowers, inspired by Giovanni Boldini’s stunning portrait of Edith Vanderbilt

Based on the series of mid-16th-century Renaissance tapestries detailing the history of Roman mythological gods and goddesses in Biltmore’s Banquet Hall, floral designer Cristy Leonard developed a glorious spring centerpiece befitting the massive table in that room.

A Biltmore floral designer creates an arrangement for the Banquet Hall
Cristy carefully selects each element in an enormous Biltmore Blooms floral arrangement for the Banquet Hall table

These are just a few of the wonderful arrangements in Biltmore House this spring; there are countless others to discover!

Experience Biltmore Blooms this spring

Explore our favorite outdoor rooms
Visit now and enjoy spring across our 8,000 acres!

Experience all the excitement of Biltmore Blooms included with your daytime admission to Biltmore.

Make required Biltmore House reservations now while your preferred dates and times are still available, and experience the spectacular seasonal show in our historic gardens.

In addition to Biltmore Blooms, enjoy the delights of Biltmore Gardens Railway in the Conservatory and Stickwork by Patrick Dougherty in Antler Hill Village, also included in daytime admission.

Happy Birthday, Frederick Law Olmsted

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Frederick Law Olmsted, born on April 26, 1822, is often referred to as the “father of landscape architecture in America,” and is best known for New York’s Central Park, which he co-designed with architect and landscape designer Calvert Vaux.

We honor Olmsted’s visionary work as the designer of the artful landscape surrounding Biltmore House year-round. However, the breathtaking beauty of our gardens in bloom during Spring at Biltmore aligning with this birthday in April calls for extra celebration!

Learn about Olmsted’s visional design of Biltmore’s landscapes.

Frederick Law Olmsted and daughter Marion at Biltmore
Frederick Law Olmsted and daughter Marion Olmsted near the French Broad River at Biltmore, ca. 1895. (Photo courtesy of the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.)

Envisioning Biltmore’s Landscapes

Olmsted knew William Henry Vanderbilt, George Vanderbilt’s father, when they both lived on Staten Island, and the designer had already worked on several Vanderbilt family projects when George Vanderbilt approached him in 1888 to advise on the first 2,000 acres of North Carolina property he’d already purchased.

“Now I have brought you here to examine it and tell me if I have been doing anything very foolish,” Vanderbilt reportedly told Olmsted.

Mountain views at Biltmore
The mountain views from Biltmore House you see today are the same Vanderbilt and Olmsted would have taken in over a century ago.

Olmsted’s Initial Assessment of Vanderbilt’s New Estate

After visiting Vanderbilt’s acreage in Asheville, North Carolina, Olmsted gave his young client a frank assessment of the property:

“The soil seems to be generally poor. The woods are miserable, all the good trees having again and again been culled out and only the runts left. The topography is most unsuitable for anything that can properly be called park scenery. My advice would be to make a small park in which you look from your house, make a small pleasure ground and gardens; farm your river bottoms chiefly and…keep and fatten livestock with a view to manure and…make the rest a forest.”

Photograph from 1892 (left to right) Purchasing agent and agricultural consultant Edward Burnett; architect Richard Morris Hunt; landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (seated middle); George Washington Vanderbilt; architect Richard Howland Hunt, son of Richard Morris Hunt (seated right).

Olmsted’s Collaboration with Richard Morris Hunt

Plans for both Biltmore House and its surrounding landscape changed in 1889 when Vanderbilt and architect Richard Morris Hunt toured France together and the scale of Vanderbilt’s new estate expanded.

Olmsted wrote that he was nervous, not sure how to “merge stately architectural work with natural or naturalistic landscape work.” But the architect and landscape designer worked together “without a note of discord,” and Olmsted biographer Witold Rybczynki says that the landscape architect achieved something completely original at Biltmore: the first combination of French and English landscape designs.

Portrait of Frederick Law Olmsted, Biltmore landscape designer, painted by John Singer Sargent.

Designing a living masterpiece

Transitions between formal and natural gardens were important, as was the use of native plants, small trees and large shrubs, and color and texture year-round.

Biltmore Estate would prove to be Olmsted’s last design. As he approached the end of his work on the estate, he said:

“It is a great work of peace we are engaged in and one of these days we will all be proud of our parts in it.”

He said Biltmore was “the most permanently important public work” of his career. More than 125 years later, we continue to benefit from his vision.

Aerial view of Biltmore House and Walled Garden in spring.
Spring at Biltmore offers a dazzling view of Olmsted’s visionary design.

Experience Biltmore in Bloom This Spring

Spring is a wonderful season to experience the mature landscape that Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned. Plan a visit now during our annual celebration of spring.


Featured image: Portrait of Frederick Law Olmsted by John Singer Sargent

Pairing Our Gardens with Biltmore White Wines

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Looking for expert advice in selecting wines for spring entertaining? Be inspired by our playful pairing of our beautiful gardens with Biltmore white wines!

Biltmore Reserve North Carolina Rosé in the Walled Garden
Nothing could be finer than sipping our Biltmore Reserve North Carolina Rosé with all your favorite flavors!

Outdoor entertaining with Biltmore Wines

From patios to picnics to pool parties, here’s a basic tip on serving and appreciating wine outdoors in spring:

“Just follow the ‘20-Minute Rule’,” said Spencer Knight, Winery Tours Supervisor. “Remove white wine from the refrigerator 20–30 minutes prior to serving so the flavor profile has a chance to expand.”

Ice bucket full of Biltmore wines.
Put Biltmore wines on your “bucket list” for spring and summer sipping!

According to Spencer, it’s also a good idea to return open wine bottles to a container of ice and water between refills, especially if you’re entertaining outside in warmer weather.

Pairing Biltmore white wines with our historic gardens

Bottle of Biltmore white wine with a white Adirondack-style chair.
Enjoy warm weather sipping with your favorite aromatic Biltmore wines by the glass or bottle.

In addition to pairing the distinct “personalities” of Biltmore’s historic gardens and grounds with our refreshing white wines, you’ll also find suggestions for white wine pairings with your favorite seasonal flavors.

Diana at Biltmore

The statue of Diana overlooking Biltmore House is a hidden gem in the landscape.
Statue of Diana overlooking Biltmore House

This elegant site overlooking Biltmore House offers a classic setting that calls to mind Biltmore’s outstanding sparkling wines.

Brighten any special occasion with our Pas de Deux® Sec—handcrafted in traditional méthode champenoise to create fine, tiny bubbles.

This aromatic semi-sweet sparkler features the essence of orange blossom and flavors of wild strawberry and lemon. Enjoy with fresh fruit, chocolate covered strawberries, and cheesecake. 

Spring in the Shrub Garden

Olmsted planned colorful blooms for spring in Biltmore's Shrub Garden
Colorful spring blooms in Biltmore’s Shrub Garden

Savor the beauty of Biltmore’s Shrub Garden—a picture-perfect pairing for Biltmore Estate® Riesling as the wine’s fresh and fragrant style is reminiscent of early-blooming spring shrubs.

Beautifully balanced with sweet apricot aromas, light honey flavors, and a crisp finish, Biltmore’s Riesling makes a surprisingly delicious companion to spicy Thai dishes as well as fruity desserts.

A classic wine pairing for the Walled Garden

White wisteria blooming in Biltmore's Walled Garden
White wisteria blooming in the Walled Garden

Stroll the paths of this grand garden and enjoy the sun-warmed stone walls that enfold you with tradition, much like the classic taste of our Biltmore Estate® Chardonnay. 

Smooth and balanced with subtle floral aromas, crisp fruit flavors, and hints of oak, Biltmore’s Chardonnay shines when served with favorites including chicken and grilled vegetables, pasta with cream sauce, and even hard-to-pair fare like squash dishes.

Our Rose Garden paired with a special rosé

Roses blooming in Biltmore's Rose Garden
Biltmore’s historic Rose Garden in front of the Conservatory

Biltmore’s rambling rose garden is a perfect match for our Biltmore® Reserve North Carolina Rosé.

Crafted from select North Carolina Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, our pretty-in-pink rosé blossoms with beautiful color, layered aromas, and flavors of red berries, tropical fruits, and a hint of spice. Enjoy with cheese plates and pizza. 

Pairing our Masterpiece Collection White Wine with the Azalea Garden

Azaleas blooming in late spring
Azaleas blooming at Biltmore in late spring

The informal feel and bright colors of the Azalea Garden make it a natural match for our fragrant and food-friendly Biltmore Masterpiece Collection White Wine, available this spring in estate shops and online.

Handcrafted to capture the essence of the season, this is the perfect wine for warmer weather and picnics. You can also spice up spring by pairing it with zesty sausage and Indian food!

Enjoy Biltmore white wines this spring
Pair Biltmore wines with all your favorite flavors this spring

Savor Biltmore wines now

Whether you’re stocking up on favorite varietals or trying new ones, you can purchase Biltmore wines online or close to home through our Retailer Locator.