Brussels Flower Carpet trades begonias for 500,000 Belgian-grown dahlias

The 2024 work, called “Rhizome”, was designed by Liège street artist Océane Cornille, who works under the name Whoups. The official Flower Carpet organisation said her flowing design represented both plant roots and the network of Brussels neighbourhoods: separate lines intersecting in a dense, connected city. Its visual references included Art Nouveau, street art and Belgian surrealism rather than the national tributes and commemorative emblems often used in earlier editions.

The design marked a horticultural change as well. The organisers said dahlias accounted for more than 80% of the carpet, with the flowers supplied through the Bloemencorso Loenhout tradition in the province of Antwerp. BRUZZ reported that this was the first edition to rely principally—and in accounts from the technical team, entirely—on dahlias instead of the begonias historically associated with the event.

Technical director Koen Vondenbusch told VRT NWS and BRUZZ that dahlias cope better with heat than water-rich begonias. The choice therefore carried a practical message beneath the spectacle: an outdoor tradition built around fresh flowers is having to adjust to warmer summer conditions and the decline of Belgian begonia production. Dahlias can still shrink or discolour, but their relative resilience makes them better suited to several exposed days on a stone square.

The Flower Carpet is normally staged every two years around 15 August, but dates, prices and entry arrangements can change. The safest starting point is flowercarpet.brussels or the City of Brussels events portal, brussels.be. The municipality is formally the City of Brussels—Ville de Bruxelles in French and Stad Brussel in Dutch—not the wider Brussels-Capital Region or one of the other 18 communes/gemeenten.

Event information in central Brussels is commonly published in French, Dutch and English. On signs and ticket pages, “Grand-Place” and “Grote Markt” mean the same square; “Hôtel de Ville” and “Stadhuis” both refer to Brussels City Hall. Knowing those pairs helps when following temporary entrances or asking staff where the balcony queue begins.

For the easiest visit, arrive outside the busiest afternoon period, check whether balcony admission has a timed slot, and allow extra waiting time even with a ticket. The square itself provides the close-up experience, whereas the City Hall balcony is the better choice for photographs of the entire design. Public transport is generally more convenient than driving into the historic centre: Brussels-Central railway station is a short walk away, while the Bourse/Beurs and De Brouckère metro stations provide other approaches. Current routes and disruption should be checked with SNCB/NMBS and STIB/MIVB before travelling.

The Grand-Place is more than a dramatic backdrop. UNESCO placed the architectural ensemble on its World Heritage List in 1998, describing it as an exceptional blend of artistic styles and a reflection of Brussels’ history as a prosperous northern European trading city. The temporary carpet makes that permanent stone setting feel newly legible: visitors look down on the flowers, but also across the guild houses and City Hall that frame them.

The first Brussels Flower Carpet was created in 1971, when the Grand-Place was still used much more heavily by cars. The event later settled into its biennial rhythm, with the carpet assembled for only a few days before being removed. That short life is part of its appeal, but it also concentrates demand and leaves little room to postpone a visit when queues or weather intervene.

For Brussels residents, newcomers and visiting relatives, the practical lesson is straightforward: the free view is already worthwhile, while the balcony should be planned as a separate, ticketed experience. Future designs and opening arrangements will differ, but the distinction between an accessible public spectacle and a capacity-limited panoramic view is likely to remain. The next edition, its ticket prices and any accessibility provisions should always be confirmed on the organisers’ and City of Brussels websites rather than inferred from the 2024 programme.