When Frederick Law Olmsted designed Biltmore’s gardens, he planned their beauty to last through all four seasons, so it’s little wonder the blooms of estate gardens continue well into fall.

The Walled Garden

In the formal gardens, the show continues with carefully planted flowers designed to blossom through cooler temperatures. The Walled Garden hosts an array of fall mums that provide color from late September through the end of October. This year’s color show includes brilliant blooms in red, purple, orange, and yellow.

The Rose Garden

Rose lovers can enjoy a sneak peek of the judging of the annual International Rose Trials September 22–23. Since 2011, Biltmore’s historic Rose Garden has served as the home for the trials. More than 90 varieties from growers and breeders worldwide have been planted and cared for by Biltmore’s horticulturalists.

The Azalea Garden

The glory of fall blooms continues through the estate’s informal gardens. The Azalea Garden, filled with 15 acres of native azaleas, enjoys a second bloom in the fall. Other gardens are also alive with late blooming annuals, perennials, and vibrant leaves on the estate’s native and exotic trees.

Estate Grounds

For those looking for fall color beyond the gardens, a scenic drive through the estate provides a wonderful opportunity to slow down and savor views of forests flush with color and panoramic vistas. The road by the Reception & Ticketing Sales Center is populated by vibrant orange and red sugar maple trees, while an afternoon drive by the Bass Pond offers views of bright fall foliage reflecting in the water.

The Lagoon

A trip to Antler Hill Village & Winery provides the chance to drive by the Lagoon and enjoy views of the house’s western façade framed by vibrant leaves. Between the estate’s gardens and grounds, the promise of fall color begins in early September and continues until late October, making any time a perfect time to experience autumn on the estate. Plan your visit today.

Summertime is when some of our tiniest, most delicate guests come for an estate visit. Drawn to the large colorful patches of zinnias and bee balm, hummingbirds and butterflies flutter and dart around garden beds brimming with flowers planted there months earlier just for them.

The gardens in Antler Hill Village are particularly abuzz with these pretty creatures. Dusty Hafer, a crew member on Biltmore’s horticulture team, plans the planting beds for the village area, and he deliberately includes plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

We asked Dusty for some tips on what plants the home gardener can plant to attract their own tiny visitors, and what’s working well in the village’s gardens.

“Variety is key to attracting butterflies and hummingbirds,” Dusty says. “Each has different preferences, so more garden variety yields more wildlife variety. Not only that, plant variety throughout the growing season is key. Layering your garden with overlapping bloom times will result in having the most options available throughout the year.”

According to Dusty, here’s what’s attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to Antler Hill Village right now.

• Bee balm (monarda didyma) – Its red tubular flowers are a hummingbird favorite, but butterflies love it as well. After the first flush of flowers fade, cut the plant back about halfway and to get additional flowering later in the summer.
• Butterfly Bush – This species has a long bloom time, from spring through frost in the fall. It’s also a great choice if your gardening space is small. Hummingbirds like it just as butterflies do. Dusty warns that some species of the plant can become invasive, so select a sterile cultivar.
• Salvia gauranitica ‘black and blue’ – Another Hummingbird favorite that has a fairly long bloom time.
• Verbena bonariensis – This one doubles as a nectar plant and host plant to a few species. It self-seeds, but will take over if you don’t pull its seedlings from places where you don’t want it. Goldfinches are also drawn to the seeds.
• Ironweed ‘Iron Butterfly’ (vernonia lettermannii ‘Iron Butterfly’) – Butterflies love this newer, very attractive, cultivar of native ironweed.
• Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’ – Another butterfly favorite with a very long bloom time. Trim spent blooms to encourage better re-blooming and a tidy look.
• Zinnias – A wide variety of zinnias is on the market in different sizes, colors, and flower types and most are very attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds. Put them out after danger of frost has passed and they will bloom practically non-stop until the first frost in the fall.

Dusty suggested additional strategies to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

• Host plants – Include host plants for butterflies to lay their eggs and for their caterpillars to use as a food source. “Each species of butterfly has certain plants it will use as a host plant,” Dusty says. Monarch butterflies, for example, only use milkweeds, and they prefer certain milkweeds over others. Other good host plants for other types of butterflies are pansies, violets, fennel, hollyhock, switchgrasses, tall verbena, maypop, tulip poplar, black cherry, oaks, ash, and willows.
• Water sources – Though hummingbirds are too small to use the depth of water in a typical bird bath, they love moving, splashing water, so consider a bird bath with a falling water feature. Mist stations also attract hummingbirds.  A small pond with a waterfall is another good option. Butterflies land on wet patches of soil where they get water and minerals. Dusty says you can place a very shallow dish in the garden and fill it with sand and pebbles to create a puddling station. Water it often enough to keep it thoroughly moist and butterflies will love it.

Lisa Peek, one of Biltmore’s Field to Table gardeners, recently received a new title: Hydroponics Specialist.

So when it comes to growing plants without soil in our Production Garden, she is truly a pro.

“I’d have to say my favorite thing about working in the Production Garden is learning new techniques to better meet the needs of our estate restaurants,” says Lisa.

And the hydroponic process is doing just that.

Why Hydroponics?

“Because we have such high demand from our chefs for estate-grown produce—greens, in particular—we had to figure out a way to produce higher yields that are still top-notch quality,” Lisa explains.

Simply put, the hydroponic system allows our gardeners to provide a plant with exactly what it needs, when it needs it, and in the amount that it needs.

To consistently meet all of those requirements while growing a plant in soil is far more difficult.

Throw in the volume necessary to meet the demands of six full-service estate restaurants and the challenge becomes clear.

The benefits of hydroponics for our situation are undeniable. In addition to higher and more consistent yields, the system results in better taste and texture because the plants are not as vulnerable to variables like sunlight, wind, and temperature.

The hydroponic greenhouse protection also results in less waste as outer parts of the plants are not damaged by these elements.

Plus, all of our leafy greens are grown in deep water cultures, resulting in such high H₂O content that their shelf-life quadruples!

More Greens, More Greenhouses

To meet the increasing demand for estate-grown produce, we have also found the need to increase our Production Garden space.

The addition of two greenhouses will provide Lisa and her team with basically triple the square footage.

The new greenhouses are being built exclusively for our deep water cultures. One will house solely lettuce, while the other will house spinach, mustards, kale, collards, and other leafy greens.

Our existing space will be home to starter plants for the other two greenhouses as well as various types of hydroponic systems.

For edible flowers like snapdragons and herbs such as sage and thyme, we are implementing a Dutch bucket system, which essentially functions as a regulated reservoir. This technique allows us to use a variety of growing mediums while also producing less waste.

The Production Garden on the west side of the estate is the backbone of our hydroponics and Field to Table Program. And thanks to dedicated employees like Lisa, we are able to honor George Vanderbilt’s original vision of a self-sustaining estate as well as his unswerving passion for innovation.

With more than 2.5 miles of paths in our manicured gardens, it’s easy to stumble upon unfamiliar species of plants at Biltmore.

Starting in late May, summer annuals fill the Walled Garden, Estate Entry, and Winery beds. Other estate blooms include roses, perennials, and lush perennial borders in the Walled Garden, Winery, and Antler Hill Village. From June through August, you can find native rhododendron and perennials.

But what about those plants you’re less familiar with? We asked Travis Murray, Walled Garden Crew Leader, about plants unique to our gardens. Here are some of the most unique plants found at Biltmore:

Shiny black coleus

The Shiny black coleus was discovered by John Alexander in the Walled Garden in 2007. At the time, John was the leading gardener over the ornamental turf in the historic gardens and was working for Travis in the Walled Garden. They had planted a border in the pattern beds. The display was a yellow Lantana standard, underplanted with Salvia farinacea ‘Victoria blue,’ bordered with Dark star coleus.

John and the rest of the crew were removing dead flower heads from the salvia in the corners when he pointed out that one of the coleuses looked like it had wet leaves. The coleus was not a whole plant, but a sport, which is a part of a plant that shows variations from the rest of the plant. Sports may show differences in foliage shape or color, flowers, or branch structure.

John and Travis took cuttings of the sport and turned them over to Gardener Mark Waldroop, who propagated those cuttings and cared for them. He grew the plant and watched it closely to monitor any changes, as many do not remain viable and will revert to the mother plant. To ensure viability once the plant was rooted and healthy enough for cuttings, Mark began propagating the sport. After several successful propagations, the sport held its characteristics and a new coleus was born. We named it Little John, after the man who discovered it.