Shrub Garden

Shrub Garden, also referred to as the Ramble by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, features meandering paths similar to his design for New York's Central Park and illustrates his ability to design for both form and function. The area was intentionally laid out below a natural ridge to protect guests and plantings from the worst winter winds, and the paths were designed to provide easy strolling from the elevation of Biltmore House down to the Walled Garden. The four-acre garden includes many heirloom shrubs representing varieties popular at the end of the 19th century and was designed to have something in bloom almost the entire year, beginning with winter jasmine and vernal witch hazel, followed in spring by forsythia, peonies, Japanese cherries, dogwoods, lilac, and azaleas, in summer by roses, hydrangea, and crepe myrtle, and in fall by Japanese anemones, beauty berry, and autumn colors until frost. As shown on the original 1893 drawings for the garden, many shrub beds are edged with perennial plants that add additional color in season.

North Carolina · United States