Thursday, August 30, 2007

More plants from the Biltmore House grounds and gardens

This is a view of the Biltmore house from the Esplanade which is probably about 1/4 mile from the house. How would you like to mow that lawn? The size of the living space in the house is about 4 acres and it is the largest private residence in the U.S. It was built by George Vanderbilt who inherited a vast fortune. His grandfather Cornelius amassed the unheard of $150 million in shipping and railroads. Cornelius' son doubled the fortune to $300 million which in today's money would be worth about 90 some odd billion if I heard the tape correctly. But they had no sinks in the 43 bathrooms even if they had the then new commodes.




I thought this was a new hybrid frilly shasta daisy but it doesn't have the characteristic yellow eye so it is probably something else instead. Centaurea?

Thanks to Entangled of Tangled Branches Cultivated this plant has been identified as Stokesia laevis alba 'Peach Melba'. It could also be S. 'Silver Moon' but it has a faint peach color in the center of the flower so it's most likely 'Peach Melba'. This site has a photo of both flowers.




There were two types of Anemones blooming. The pink multi-petaled (I don't think this is x hybrida 'Party Dress' but I'll be able to compare it soon with the one I have which is setting its flower buds now) and the white which is probably 'Honorine Jobert'.



The sweet scented Stephanotis floribunda. I was surprised at the number of tropical plants grown by the Biltmore plants people.


A banana tree in one of many large planters scattered around the house and grounds.


And a wonderfully colored green blue silver fan palm.
Chris of Digital Flower Pictures.com, one of my favorite plant photoblog sites I might add, has identified the palm as a Bismarck Palm, Bismarckia nobilis a native of Madgascar.



An odd pairing of purple wandering Jew, Tradescantia pallida and angel wing Begonia.

8 Comments:

Blogger DeeMom said...

KI all of these pictures are to drool for. What a lovely trip you all had.
Thanks for sharing.

5:06 AM  
Blogger Entangled said...

I've never been to the Biltmore Estate, but it looks like the gardens alone would be worth a trip.

I wonder if your mystery daisy-thing might be a Stokesia?

1:40 PM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi deemom,
It was nice to get away for a bit but wondering if our plants weren't dried to a crisp and those dreadful motel rooms made coming home a treat. Interesting that even though the trip lasted less than a week our yard looked different. I guess we saw it with fresh eyes and it looked better than I ever thought it was. Thanks for the comment.

-----------------------------------

Hi Entangled,
Between you and Annie a plant is not unidentified for long. Maybe you folks should have a plant ID business. Stokesia it is. Thanks. It's probably Stokesia laevis alba 'Peach Melba' or 'Silver moon'. It has a faint peach color in the center so I'm leaning toward 'Peach Melba'. I'll add the name and a link to a website that has photos of both.

Since you are only one state away, a visit to Asheville would make a nice one or two day getaway. The Biltmore house was a bit much but the gardens added to the interest. The town has a funky feel to it and there's a very good vegetarian restaurant there called the Laughing Seed.

I regret not staying in one of the cabins you can rent for about the same price as a motel room. At least with a cabin you could sit outside on the porch or stroll around the hiking trails instead of being cooped up in corporate sameness.

Thanks again for the ID.

6:30 PM  
Blogger Digital Flower Pictures said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4:08 AM  
Blogger Digital Flower Pictures said...

What a great place. Stoke's Aster is a nice garden plant. It makes a lot of volunteers but not too many. Those containers are great. I think the Palm is one of my favorites, Bismark.

4:08 AM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hey Chris,
Thanks for the name of the palm. Now that I know the name of Stokesia I pass by a couple of the plants every morning on my dog walk! Amazing that I could miss something so obvious.

10:46 AM  
Blogger lisa said...

Wow, I like that palm! Not sure about the composition they chose to go with it, but to each his own.

9:49 AM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi Lisa,
Yeah, they had weird (to me) combinations of plants in the planters. I wonder who determines the design? They did have many attractive plants.

11:29 AM  

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