The more I look into the Purslane family the more interesting it gets.  There is the Portulaca Grandiflora that includes the Moss Rose, Samba Rose, Rio Rose, and Yubi.

The only Portulaca I saw at my local nursery was what looks like Moss Rose but was labeled as “Portulaca Oleracea”.  Which is really the scientific name of the edible Purslane.  I think it may have been mislabeled someone just put the wrong label on it.

This is the plant I brought home.  When I first had it, there were many bright flowering colors, but now there aren’t as much anymore.  The petals are like gift wrapping tissue paper.  Some say it looks like a carnation.

Even if it’s part of the Purslane family, I would be a bit sketchy about eating the leaves of these guys.

Photo from Martin Group of Illinois.  This is what they refer to as “Moss Ross”, it is in the Potulaca family.

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Today’s photos come from Nye Noona.  The beautiful photos were taken at the Biltmore Estate and garden in Asheville, North Carolina.  You can learn more about the Biltmore from my little post here.

It would be a dream vacation to visit the Biltmore sometime in the future.  In the meantime, I will enjoy the visit via Nye Noona’s photos.  Thank you Nye for letting me use your photos as part of Cambree Notes “Garden Photos of the Day.”

The water lilies (or lotus) are ready to meet the day and start blooming.

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If you have an interest in French chateaus (castles) and European gardens, you don’t have to go as far as Europe. Just visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. There is even a farm and vineyard too! But you many just need to spend more then one day at this place.

The story behind the Biltmore Estate invokes a different era in American history known as the Gilded Age. George Washington Vanderbilt III was the youngest child of industrialist William Henry Vanderbilt and his wife Maria Louisa Kissam. When his father passed away, he was left with millions in inheritance money.

While on a short vacation to Asheville in 1888, he was touched by the area’s beauty. He felt inspired to create a country estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains for his family. It was to be modeled after the French Châteaux of the Loire Valley, with 250 rooms. It is now owned and operated by the Biltmore Company.

There are more photos from the Biltmore Estate pool at flickr. This one being my favorite taken by gxster1 of flickr. The pink water lilies are huge and so healthy looking, imagine some lucky frogs that get to live here.

A little history about the chateau from the website:

“A New World Château: The celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt modeled the house on three châteaux built in 16th-century France. It would feature 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The basement alone would house a swimming pool, gymnasium and changing rooms, bowling alley, servants’ quarters, kitchens, and more.
An Environmental Wonder

The grounds of the 125,000-acre estate were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the creator of New York’s Central Park and the father of American landscape architecture. He not only developed acres of gardens and parkland, but in his efforts to protect the environment and reclaim over-farmed land, Olmsted established America’s first managed forest.”
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