Display & Design

Guests flock to Longwood throughout the year to celebrate our five “seasons”—Winter Wonder, Spring Blooms, Festival of Fountains, Chrysanthemum Festival, and A Longwood Christmas.

Our seasonal displays elevate the art of horticulture, spotlighting unusual but also ordinary plants, all grown to extraordinary effect. In keeping with the emphasis of the Visionary Master Plan, we have dedicated the next five years to designing exciting new floral displays. In the coming years, guests can look forward to programs focused on poppies, anthuriums, dahlias and aquatic plants.

Gaining a Fresh Perspective

Predictability is a trait that we work very hard to avoid at Longwood. In addition to expanding our programming we are also exploring ways to invigorate and strengthen our displays by elevating the artistic level and quality of our horticultural offerings.

One area of focus is our Chrysanthemum Festival. Through our international partnerships, our staff participates in off-site training experiences that allow them to learn and master ancient chrysanthemum growing techniques. For example, our head grower traveled to Japan five times in one year to train with Thousand Bloom chrysanthemum masters at different stages in the plant's growth.  Through partnerships such as these, we are expanding our body of knowledge and preserving ancient art forms.

Other ways in which we are energizing our programs include:

• Working within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity to bring new plants into the garden from across the globe.
• Conducting breeding projects to improve specific plant groups so that we can elevate our seasonal displays while introducing new plants to the market.
• Participating in plant exploration programs that strengthen our core plant collections and improve the quality of our horticultural displays.