Our Blog
A personal look at the ideas, inspiration, and hard work that go into producing the horticultural displays for one of the world's great gardens.
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Plant Exploration in Azerbaijan
May 20, 2018
Plant exploration is vital to bringing new and potentially useful plants to Longwood Gardens. These plants may be used for various purposes: creating displays, systematically building our collection of over 11,000 types of plants, breeding new plants, or for plant conservation. For the past two years we have targeted the Caucasus region, which encompasses the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, to search for new hardy plants.
The Hillside Garden is a magical place at any time of year, offering guests a tranquil retreat brimming with diverse floral displays, a plethora of foliage and textures, and quiet places to sit and reflect. But as spring sets in, the Hillside truly becomes a plant-lover’s paradise.
A Tale of Beauty, Rarity, and Mania
April 13, 2018
Every spring, thousands upon thousands of beauty-seekers head to Longwood Gardens to take in one of our most spectacular sights—our beloved tulips. Ever-changing and always stunning, our tulip display is undeniably gorgeous, but what is it about the tulip itself that draws so much attention and wonder? Why are we so attracted to this seemingly simple flower? The answer may go far beyond the tulip’s beauty and instead lie in mankind’s fascination with the unattainable.
Community Read: A Conversation with Hope Jahren
March 18, 2018
We are proud to welcome Hope Jahren to Longwood Gardens on March 24, 2018, for Celebrating Women in Science and Horticulture, and for A Community Conversation. Recently we had the opportunity to ask the author some questions about her life as a scientist, and about writing her national bestseller, Lab Girl.
The Allure of Blue
March 6, 2018
Every March, a special botanical and horticultural rarity goes on display that creates a palpable excitement and fervor among our guests—the fabled Himalayan blue-poppies (Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’). They are poster children for a horticultural pursuit from which no plant group is immune—the quest for blue flowers. There are other blue-flowered plants, but why are they so rarely encountered and why are they so alluring?
