Flowery carpet for Brussels

Gardeners adjust flowers to create a flower carpet at the Brussels Grand place.

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- How to improve a city plaza where a wispy Gothic spire towers over exquisitely preserved medieval guild houses, a market square that writer Victor Hugo, a one-time resident, called Europe's most beautiful?

Belgians try to do it with flowers. For one weekend every two years, they carpet the Grand Place with about 800,000 begonia blossoms, creating intricate designs evoking images ranging from archangels to the gardens of Versailles.

But as workers cased the ground Thursday in preparation for this year's spectacle, organizers were more concerned about the heavy gray clouds overhead. Overcast skies and light rain keep the blossoms fresh, but deter the 100,000 visitors they hope to attract over the next three days.

"It's always the same," says designer Mark Schautteet, shrugging his shoulders. "When it's good for the flowers, it's not good for the tourists."

The first "flower carpet" was laid on the Grand Place in 1971 after the then-mayor of Brussels saw what Flemish landscape architects had been doing in smaller cities and invited them to try it in the capital.

The event was repeated sporadically in the following years, becoming a biennial spectacle in the late 1980s.

Each carpet is different, with themes ranging from the city's millennium in 1979, featuring a representation of the city's patron saint, Archangel Michael, to the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Brussels by the World War II Allies in 1994.

This year's arabesque design is a tribute to Belgian architect Victor Horta, who helped popularize the Art Nouveau style around Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The city and regional government, plus some private sponsors, cover the roughly $61,300 cost, according to Annette Katz of the Brussels tourist office.

Tourists come from as far away as Japan. And of course, there are the English -- "England has a culture of flowers," Katz says.

The begonia blossoms are laid on a sheet of plastic that covers the square, with sod borders for a stained-glass window effect. Tourists can view the carpet from its edges, or head to City Hall for an overhead view.

The begonia originated in the West Indies, but Belgium's sandy soil -- and wet weather -- are ideal for growing the flowers.

Belgium is now one of the biggest exporters of begonia tubers, but faces competition from neighboring Holland as well as newcomers like Canada.

So the Belgian growers try to keep interest up -- and sales high -- by rolling out flower carpets from year to year in cities from Vienna, Austria, to Columbus, Ohio.

"We only have one month to make them in the summer, because that's when the flowers are best," Schautteet says. After three days lying on the ground, the blossoms start to wither and turn brown. "Then it's gone with the wind," he says.

But Schautteet has no regrets about the ephemeral nature of his creations: "We always have the photos."