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A Fresh Spring Mix
After a long winter, we’re finally seeing the spectacular colors of tulips throughout the Gardens. With color blocked borders of approximately 100,000 tulips every year, the display on the Flower Garden Walk is always an anticipated sight.
Bold and Beautiful: The Life of Echium Wildpretii
The beauty of our spring display would not be complete without the towering, striking, and unusual plant, Echium wildpretii, ‘tower-of-jewels’. While this plant stands at nearly seven feet tall, its tiny, salmon-colored flowers are what make it truly magnificent. As each tassel of flowers blooms into graceful curves along the plant, the stamens stick out as if dancing from the tiny flowers, transforming this tower-of-jewels into a whimsical display of beauty.
Braiding Sweetgrass: A Community Read
"They know how to build soil, recycle water, create homes for endless other beings; they give us the very air we breathe, they know how to make berries out of light. We might do well to listen." —Robin Wall Kimmerer. Photo by Richard Donham.
A Chat with Benjamin Sheen: Winner of Our International Organ Competition
Since winning the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, Sheen has performed around the U.S., in the UK, Spain, and will tour Singapore, Australia, and Canada later this year. But one of his favorite concerts was his May 2014 return to Longwood, offering him the chance to play The Longwood Organ again. “I adore it,” Sheen said about the 10,010-pipe instrument. “It is like no other organ,” he said. Sheen readily admits that the Longwood Organ is still daunting to program and play, even after his hours playing it, but notes the organ is romantic and orchestral and well suited to the kind of music he enjoys playing.
The Lore of Our Trees
Trees are some of the largest and longest-lived organisms on earth. Senior Gardener Pandora Young shares some of her favorite stories of tree lore and invites you to take another look at the relationships we all share with the living world around us.
Flurries of Activity in our Meadow Garden
"So, what's going on in the Meadow these days?" I've heard this question a lot recently, and it's easy to see why. Looking out over its frigid expanse, I sometimes feel as if the entire garden is in suspended animation until warmer weather. But while the Meadow Garden has been icy, it's hardly been put on ice!
Something to See: The Rare V3
This year, we’ve brought a unique and rare Phalaenopsis Sogo Yukidian ‘V3’ hybrid to Orchid Extravaganza, which we believe is being displayed for the first time in a US public garden. The ‘V3’ moth orchids featured on the center walk of our Orangery have unusually long flower spikes with as many as 18 open flowers on a single spike (with more buds yet to open)! Photo by Trilbey Smith.
The Great Kapok Tree: A Family Community Read
A community of animals—among them a boa, a toucan, a sloth, and a jaguar—call the kapok tree their home. Each whispers to the man who comes to cut the tree down, filling his dreams with the kapok's life-giving secrets. The man wakes to the wonder of this tree in the Amazon rain forest, drops his axe, and walks away.
The Making of our Orchid Meadow
Learn how our gardeners created this miniature indoor landscape, which was inspired by the colors, textures, and organic feel of Longwood’s new Meadow Garden. Photo by Duane Erdmann.
Setting the Standard
One definition of a "standard" is a norm by which similar things can be measured. In horticulture, however, a standard is a plant that is trained or grafted to have a single stem, and a crown of leaves and flowers. Combine the two meanings, and you have the degree of excellence achieved by Longwood in the beauty of its standard forms. Photo by Larry Albee.
Winter Birdwatching
Early winter is a special time of year for birds and bird watchers alike, as cold temperatures bring seasonal migrations to a fever pitch and instill a new sense of urgency in our resident species. Photo by Duane Erdmann.
A Rare Bird
If you’ve visited the Gardens recently, you know that Longwood has taken flight this season with a stunning bird-inspired holiday display. What you may not know is that this area of Pennsylvania has a rich history in the study of ornithology. Illustration of American sparrow hawk and field sparrow, drawn from nature by A. Wilson, engraved by A. Lawson. From American Ornithology.
Camera Man
The enduring photographic legacy of Longwood gardener turned staff photographer Gottlieb Hampfler.
Make Your Own Edible Ornaments
The Holiday Dish at 1906
Exploring the Global Garden: Vietnam
A plant exploration team from Longwood recently spent three days climbing to the peak of Fan Si Pan Mountain, the highest peak in the Hoang Lien Mountain Range. One day soon you might find one of their delightful discoveries in our Gardens.
Mini Mum Magic
This fall, be sure to explore our Bonsai Display, where some of the best surprises of Chrysanthemum Festival come in small packages. Anemone Chrysanthemum x morifulium ‘Kotoi No Kaori’, photo by William Hill.
A Culture of Chrysanthemums
This year, 230,000 chrysanthemum blooms fill our 4-acre Conservatory in forms of cascades, shields, spirals, pagodas and of course, our most impressive Thousand Bloom Mum yet, featuring 1,515 blooms.
The Meadow Gardener
As Longwood's new Meadow Garden enters its first fall season, gardener Colin McCallum-Cook shares his expertise and excitement about the plants that make up the Meadow's palette of Autumn's Colors.
Reaching New Heights
Pierre S. du Pont's extraordinary Main Fountain Garden has entertained guests with its beauty and showmanship for eighty-three years. Now Longwood Gardens will carry Mr. du Pont's legacy to New Heights through the Fountain Revitalization Project that begins in mid-October.