24 Mar 2020

FLOWER CARPET BRUSSELS

As I am locked in and not allowed to go out except for shopping food and medication because of the Coronavirus, I have to dig in my past to find beautiful things I have seen in our world. One of them is the Flower Carpet in Brussels on the Grand'Place

Every two years, since 1986 the non-profit association Tapis de Fleurs brings together a committee of professionals (illustrators, graphic designers, landscape architects) who come up with scale projects, with each edition illustrating a different theme . Once the theme has taken shape in the form of a model and symbols, the number of flowers is calculated and the combinations of colours are established. Several days before the inauguration, a full-size drawing is executed on sheets of micro-perforated plastic that are laid down atop the cobblestones of the Grand-Place.

More than 100 volunteer gardeners put together this giant floral puzzle in less than eight hours. The day before the opening, the spaces between the floral motifs are filled in using rolls of sod. The flowers are so closely-packed that they can´t be blown away, and indeed they create their own microclimate! If there´s a heat wave, the sod is watered to prevent it from wilting. If the weather is too wet, the grass can grow by 4 to 5 centimetres in 3 days, where tourists and Belgians can admire the carpet.

The robust tuberous begonia lends beauty and freshness to the carpet. A native of the West Indies, the Begonias come in a rich palette ranging from the most vivid colours to delicate pastel shades, with in between the many-coloured and white flowers that reflect sunlight so well.

The first flower carpet was layed out in 1971 on the Grand'Place of Brussels. It was the work of the landscape architect Etienne Stautemas, born in Zottegem in 1927. A graduate of the Horticultural College of Ghent, he began to create flower carpets in the early 1950´s.

The first Flower Carpet of Brussels was created in 1971. Since 1986  every two years a new theme is created and the flower carpet appears on the Grand' Place.

Of course ever since I have seen the carpet many times, and never miss this event when I am  not away. The carpet is always displayed mid August for 3 days.


















Arriving or leaving ....

This carpet stems from 2006.



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6 comments:

  1. Nice! Shame they haven't some higher walkways around it so you can see the carpet a bit better.

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  2. Impressive. I only hope it can go ahead this coming August.

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  3. We can all use some color right now

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  4. Beautiful photos! I never heard of this carpet!

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