Longwood’s Christmas display develops around a theme—some unifying concept that ties together the colors and imagery throughout the Conservatory. The theme is chosen by our horticulture staff, who then involve colleagues from throughout the Gardens to brainstorm ideas and come up with different ways to express the theme. This year we were inspired by the motifs of classical French design. As soon as the French theme was chosen, we all agreed, “There must be a parterre garden!”

In October we wrapped up our third season of a friendly competition in our Trial Garden. Our gardeners submitted plant combinations and designs that were showcased for all of our guests to enjoy—and vote for their favorites!

As Longwood’s Display Designer, it is my responsibility to make sure that our Chrysanthemum Festival is beautiful and engaging. In order to make the Festival successful we rely on a very talented group of individuals, and it is my privilege to lead the creative process. The plans for Chrysanthemum Festival happen more than one year in advance, starting with my conceptual plan that takes into account color, height, texture, and other aesthetic considerations.

While I was at QVC earlier this week, I had the opportunity to visit the exquisite Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square. If you are in the area through November 19th, stop by and visit the Chrysanthemum Festival, where you’ll see thousands of colorful mums planted in orbs, spirals, and pagodas—you’ll love it. Here are photos from my recent visit to Longwood Gardens—enjoy.

The 2017 Orchid Extravaganza at Longwood Gardens is certainly the most outstanding display I’ve seen here since we started this exhibition! There are more orchids in more places than you could hope to enjoy in one morning. The Longwood team has scoured the orchid world to bring you some of the most dynamic selections available to gardeners! The careful composition of colors and textures is what really makes this extravaganza so special.

Every season, our gardeners strive to create new and innovative displays while preserving the spirit and traditions of A Longwood Christmas. For this year’s display, Senior Gardener Koa Kanamee spearheaded the brainstorming, design, and execution of the largest “Living Tree” in Longwood’s history. Standing in the flooded Fern Floor of the Exhibition Hall at 30 feet tall and 20 feet wide, the tree boasts 1,300 individually potted plants, including red poinsettias, white Euphorbia fulgens, Canary ivy, Hedera canariensis, white Phalaenopsis orchids, and hand-painted winged Euonymus.

For a second season, staff members from all corners of the Gardens used their creative talents to design garden plots in our Trial Garden—all while engaging in a friendly competition. The process is a way for us to showcase new plants for our guests, evaluate each plant’s suitability for our display, and spotlight our staff’s design talents. Participants selected three to eight plants from a list of more than 160 plant species and cultivars. This year we had a total of 15 different combinations, including the top three combinations from last year's Trial Garden. The results are in!

The final installment of Nightscape's Artist & Friends wrapped up the speaker series with a discussion about the future of virtual experiences. Kevin Ritchie and Mark McCallum of Klip Collective joined founding member Ricardo Rivera to discuss the future of virtual reality and its relationship to fields as varied as art, design, healthcare, and military training; and the place of human agency within art and immersive experiences.

The latest installment of the Nightscape Artist & Friends Speaker Series on September 9 provided a continuation of 2015’s July topic: the importance of music to the Nightscape experience. Justin Geller from Pink Skull rejoined Ricardo Rivera, director of Nightscape and founding member of Klip Collective, and fellow Pink Skull composer Julian Grefe joined the conversation via Skype from Germany. Last year’s panel described the role of Pink Skull in the development of Nightscape, especially their contribution to the Silver Garden and Palm House. Two major changes to this year’s installations extended the collaboration between Pink Skull and Klip Collective and focused on Peirce’s Woods and the Waterlily Display.

The return of Nightscape: A Light and Sound Experience by Klip Collective means the return of the Friday night Artist & Friends Speaker Series. The first of three installments, on Friday, August 12, included Ricardo Rivera, founding member of Klip Collective and creator of Nightscape, and Thom Roland, Art Director at Klip Collective. Both artists discussed the basics of projection mapping and various uses for this medium; the overlap of their respective roles at their studio and behind the scenes of Nightscape; and a few of the changes they made to the 2016 version of Nightscape.

The nighttime spectacle Nightscape: A Light and Sound Experience by Klip Collective returns to Longwood with even more remarkable effects August 3 through October 29. Your favorite installations are back: topiaries that come to life, an enchanted lake and woodland, the colorful geometry of the Palm House and Silver Garden. New installations in the Exhibition Hall, the Mediterranean Garden, and the Waterlily Display will become instant favorites. Join us for a nighttime adventure across a magical landscape transformed by light, movement, color, and sound. But, don’t take our word for it. Hear from guests about what they thought about Nightscape.

As February transitions into March, those of us in Southeastern Pennsylvania are looking everywhere for signs of spring. This year, the grounds of Longwood Gardens are providing a half million new reminders that spring is just around the corner. Last fall, our gardeners, students, and volunteers completed a massive effort to add 500,000 early spring bulbs to the landscape, and these bulbs are beginning to bloom now!

A little boy dashes from the Visitor Center into the brightly quiet wonder of A Longwood Christmas. His eyes, wide as the night, reflect the glow of the big old elm, tall as the sky and brilliant with light, perhaps borrowed from the stars above. “How do they do all of this?” he exclaims. A December breeze catches the branches and makes the lights twinkle even more brightly. Or could it be the spirit of Christmas at Longwood—the unseen essence that animates the place and its people?

During the past year, Longwood guests have had the opportunity to watch the revitalization of the Main Fountain Garden. The current view in front of the Conservatory may not appear to be an obvious source of aesthetic inspiration for other projects around the Gardens; however, Longwood’s Display Designer, Jim Sutton, has placed this massive project at the heart of the Gardens’ Christmas theme. This year, fountains and the essence of water inform every aspect of the Conservatory’s display as the Main Fountain Garden revitalization continues a short distance away.

A life lesson here in Japan is that beauty is, without a doubt, in the eye of the beholder. Learning about the Japanese perception of beauty in contrast to our own has been a fascinating study in aesthetic. The chrysanthemum has provided us with the perfect subject matter to view these differences and has given us a whole new perspective on our own Chrysanthemum Festival at Longwood Gardens.

Something new happened in the Trial Garden this summer. For the first time, Longwood staff members from throughout the Gardens were given the opportunity to design their own plant combinations. Those who participated had to select three to eight plants from a list of over 160 plant species and cultivars. With 26 different combinations, our guests had the difficult task of choosing their favorite three garden beds. Look to see if your vote was one of the winning combinations!

The final installment of the Nightscape Artist & Friends Speaker Series took place last Friday with a new set of panelists. Navid Khonsari and Torfi Frans Olafsson shared stories about their professional backgrounds with Ricardo Rivera, the director of Nightscape and founding partner of Klip Collective. Khonsari is the Executive Producer of iNK Stories, an independent media studio that pushes the boundaries of storytelling through documentaries, film, and video games. Olafsson serves as the Creative Director of EVE Universe IP Development for CCP Games. Friday’s conversation continued the series’ analysis of human agency—or an individual’s power to act—and technology’s ability to enhance the immersive experience of an artwork.

Last Friday saw the third installment of Longwood’s Artist & Friends Speaker Series for Nightscape: A Light and Sound Experience by Klip Collective. Two new panelists joined Ricardo Rivera, founding member of Klip Collective and mastermind of Nightscape, but the group’s conversation about experience and storytelling picked up right where it left off in August. Yelena Rachitsky, Creative Producer of the Future of StoryTelling Summit, and Lance Weiler, Founding Member and Director of the Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab, joined Rivera to discuss the intersection of human experience, technology, and narrative as it relates to Nightscape. The abstract nature of Nightscape is the common thread weaving through the Artist & Friends Speaker Series. If Rivera and his team are sure about one thing, it is that Nightscape challenges the certainty, absolutes, and rules that tend to govern our waking lives. Instead, imagination, wonder, and curiosity serve as the viewer’s best guides throughout the installations.

This summer, Longwood Gardens is doing something new with our Trial Garden. We have always put the voting power in the hands of our guests, asking them to cast a ballot for their favorite plants. But this year, our guests will vote for combinations of plants, judging a friendly competition among staff members over who created the most beautiful garden beds. Teams and individuals entered the competition this spring, creating 26 unique plots for your viewing pleasure. Each garden uses anywhere from three to eight plants that were selected from a list of over 160 species and cultivars—many of which are tried-and-true Longwood favorites, but some of which are new to Longwood. Some designers took creative inspiration from their favorite genera, while others played with varying color themes or were inspired by travels to distant lands.

Last Friday, Longwood Gardens hosted the second installment of the Artist & Friends Speaker Series for Nightscape: A Light and Sound Experience by Klip Collective. Ricardo Rivera, creator of Nightscape and founding partner of Klip Collective, returned to participate with Josh Goldblum (Founder and CEO of Bluecadet) and Nick Fortugno (Co-Founder and COO of Playmatics). The discussion centered on the role of technology in Nightscape, especially regarding its power to add depth to the viewer’s experience. The panelists debated the concept of “experience” and its relevance to cultural institutions. How do we draw the line between engaging with something personally—such as physically walking through and taking in the Nightscape installations—and viewing images of it on a screen or hearing about it second-hand? Both are experiences … but how does one create something that’s deeply affective rather than passive or even derivative?