Kentucky Floral Clock

  • William C. Livingston, Oberwarth and Livingston Architects
  • 1961, Concrete bowl with gold cast aluminum hands on stone pool with flowers and soil
  • location700 Capitol Avenue

The giant clock is a 34-foot wide planter that weighs 100 tons and is suspended above a reflective pool of water. The clock face is composed of more than 10,000 flowers that are grown in greenhouses near the state capitol. The minute hand is 20 feet long, and the hour hand is 15 feet long. Each hand weighs approximately 500 pounds. A mechanism housed in the stone pedestal that supports the clock moves its hands.

In 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. In 2002, the capitol grounds, including the floral clock, were featured on the HGTV series “Great American Gardens.”