The floral clock

Floral clock

A floral clock or flower clock is a large decorative clock set into a flower bed in a park or other public recreation area.The floral clock was a form of carpet bedding set onto an operational clock-face, invented in 1903 by John McHattie of Edinburgh Parks in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh and...

 in Frankfort, Kentucky is a landmark located behind the Kentucky State Capitol

Kentucky State Capitol

The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the house of the three branches of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky...

. Dedicated in May 1961 by Governor

Governor of Kentucky

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of the executive branch of government in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Fifty-six men and one woman have served as Governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once...

 Bert T. Combs

Bert T. Combs

Bertram Thomas Combs was a jurist and politician from the US state of Kentucky. After serving on the Kentucky Court of Appeals, he was elected the 50th Governor of Kentucky in 1959 on his second run for the office. Following his gubernatorial term, he was appointed to the Sixth Circuit Court of...

, the clock was constructed as a joint project between the state government and the Garden Club of Kentucky.

History

On April 10, 1961, Combs appropriated $50,000 from the governor's contingency fund to construct the clock on the lawn of the state capitol. Combs had seen a similar clock in Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, and believed it would be a colorful addition to the capitol grounds. When construction was completed on the clock, some ridiculed it as "Combs' Folly" or "Big Bert" (an allusion to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Big Ben). Combs' political foe, A. B. "Happy" Chandler

Happy Chandler

Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...

, was particularly critical, declaring "It's amazing what some people will think of when they have nothing better to do." In a subsequent gubernatorial campaign, Chandler mocked the clock, declaring "Well, they don't say it's half past 2 in Frankfort anymore. They say it's two petunia

Petunia

Petunia is a widely cultivated genus of flowering plants of South American origin, closely related with tobacco, cape gooseberries, tomatoes, deadly nightshades, potatoes and chili peppers; in the family Solanaceae. The popular flower derived its name from French, which took the word petun, meaning...

s past the jimson weed." Chandler's derision became the minority view in time, however; according to journalist John Ed Pearce, the clock became one of the most talked-about and visited tourist attractions in the state and the most visited place in Frankfort.

Construction

The face

Clock face

A clock face is the part of an analog clock that displays the time through the use of a fixed numbered dial or dials and moving hands. In its most basic form, recognized universally throughout the world, the dial is numbered 1–12 indicating the hours in a 12-hour cycle, and a short hour hand...

 of the clock measures 34 feet (10.4 m) in diameter and is tilted at a 26-degree angle. The word "Kentucky" is spelled out in large letters around the top of the clock. The minute hand is 20 feet (6.1 m) long, and the hour hand is 15 feet (4.6 m) long; both weigh approximately 500 pounds (226.8 kg). The clock face is composed of more than 10,000 flowers, and the planter that holds them weighs 100 short tons (90.7 t). The majority of the flowers consist of Joseph's coat

Amaranthus tricolor

Amaranthus tricolor is an ornamental plant known as Bhaji in India, Callaloo in the Caribbean and Joseph's coat after the Biblical figure Joseph, who is said to have worn a coat of many colors...

 and begonia

Begonia

Begonia is a genus in the flowering plant family Begoniaceae and is a perennial. The only other members of the family Begoniaceae are Hillebrandia, a genus with a single species in the Hawaiian Islands, and the genus Symbegonia which more recently was included in Begonia...

s. All of the flowers used in the clock face are grown in greenhouse

Greenhouse

A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...

s near the capitol and owned by the state.

Instead of sitting on a bank of earth as most similar floral clocks do, the Frankfort clock is suspended above a pool of water. The pool is 36 feet (11 m) in diameter and 4.5 feet (1.4 m) deep. Visitors often use the pool as a wishing well

Wishing well

A wishing well is a term from European folklore to describe wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the idea that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods, since water was a source of life and...

. Until the early 1970s, coins thrown into the pool were used by Kentucky's child care agencies to purchase recreation and gym equipment and to fund Garden Club scholarship

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

s to the University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

 for students studying horticulture

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

 or land design; now the money is used solely for scholarships. The coins are collected from the pool every three weeks. In the first three years following the clock's dedication, $6,000 in coins was collected from the pool.

A mechanism housed in the stone pedestal that supports the clock moves its hands. The mechanism is composed of six gears and an electrical meter. Every sixty seconds, the minute hand moves 1.5 foot (0.4572 m), and the hour hand moves proportionately. Every hour, an additional control mechanism makes any necessary corrections to the displayed time and is capable of resetting the clock in the event of a power failure

Power outage

A power outage is a short- or long-term loss of the electric power to an area.There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network...

.

Recognition

In May 1962, the National Council of State Garden Clubs presented the state of Kentucky with its Bronze Seal Award for its efforts to beautify the state capitol, with the clock being a large part of that effort. In 2002, the capitol grounds, including the floral clock, were featured on the HGTV series "Great American Gardens".