Around 15,000 people visited Flowertime in Brussels last week, as the historic rooms of the city hall were decorated with around 100,000 flowers. The blooms have now been cleared and will be donated to local care homes.
Flowertime alternates with the Flower Carpet on the Grote Markt, which is organised every two years. This year’s theme was fashion and textiles and featured a catwalk with models.
“We worked with around 30 teams of floral artists,” says artistic director Pieter Toebaert. “They used a total of around 100,000 flowers. Some were grown especially for Flowertime, so we had a whole room full of colourful gerberas.”
The warm weather posed a challenge, especially in the first two days of the five-day event.
“Fortunately, many of the rooms in the city hall are air-conditioned,” Toebaert said. “The florists themselves were also well prepared: they put the flowers in tubes, which makes it easier to water them. They also check regularly to see if any flowers need to be replaced.”
An artist works on Flowertime
Preparations for Flowertime
A Flowertime display
The theme was fashion
The organisers estimate that the seventh edition of the event attracted 15,000 people. “We came especially from Aalter,” said Kenzo Heyen, one of the visitors. “We’re getting married soon and my girlfriend is a big fan of flowers. So we’re looking for people to decorate our wedding. I think it’s really beautiful, especially with the old architecture and the paintings.”
All the flowers have now been removed. “The flowers that are still good will go to residential care centres here in Brussels,” says Toebaert. “That way, they get a second life and the residents can enjoy them for a while longer.”
I think it’s really beautiful, especially with the old architecture and the paintings