Inspired by a quilt

North Carolina gardens mimic fabric pattern

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — It’s not uncommon to see floral patterns on quilts. But how about flowers planted in a quilt pattern?

The quilt garden at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville is designed to mimic the shapes and colours found in traditional quilt block patterns. The quilt theme connects the garden to the arts and crafts heritage of the Southern Appalachian region, according to Clara Curtis, director of design, events and education at the arboretum.

Asheville is surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the Appalachian mountain range, with stunning views from many parts of the arboretum. A sign for visitors to the quilt garden explains that quilting in the North Carolina mountains wasn’t just a hobby, but was a needed skill well into the 20th century. Women — many of them poor and isolated from towns and cities — recycled scraps of fabric into useful blankets that also often happened to be beautiful.

The arboretum has been planting a quilt garden for 20 years. The garden has 24 small beds divided by walkways.

The plantings are done using design principles from tessellation, a quilting technique that uses simple shapes to create more complex patterns.

Each year, one overall pattern is chosen for the garden, and it’s tessellated by planting different flowers at three different times during the growing season.

Early this spring, purple and yellow pansies and four-leaf clover were planted in a triangular pattern inspired by the traditional rail-fence quilt design. For summer, the quilt garden will use dusty miller, baby’s breath and the polka-dot plant with cosmos accents.

One square measures 8-by-8 feet (2.4 metres).