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![The inside of the Conservatory at Longwood Gardens with purple plants in the foreground looking up at the glass ceiling.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2024-06/764124_West%20Conservatory%20planting_Davis_%20Harold%20_Hank_%20_Longwood%20Volunteer%20Photographer_.jpg?itok=V2Wqm3tY)
Telling a Design Story: Planting the West Conservatory
Our November 22 opening of Longwood Reimagined continues to draw nearer, and with each passing day not only do we continue to make great progress, but we grow even more excited to share its beauty with you.
![A rose bush with an empty bench to its left.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2024-04/593407_Rose%20Arbor_Davis_%20Harold%20_Hank_%20_Longwood%20Volunteer%20Photographer_.jpg?itok=ynrXRXuK)
Ensuring the Longevity of Roses
From work we do here in our Gardens to manage such threats, to our support of related research led a multidisciplinary team from nine universities and the US Department of Agriculture to deepen understanding of such diseases—we are working to ensure the longevity of this iconic plant in our Gardens and beyond.
![The Idea Garden at Longwood with spring plantings in the beds and the conervatory in the distance.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2024-05/763792_Longwood%20Gardens%20-%20May%202024_Mathias_%20Becca%20_Commissioned%20as%20of%204_2022_.jpg?itok=uxS1e7Pk)
Our Idea Garden, Reimagined
Featuring five unique garden spaces—including the redesigned Ornamental Kitchen Garden—the Idea Garden echoes some of the classical elements of the Main Fountain Garden and blends the formal with the less formal, and notably the agrarian.
![The Cynorkis orchid with small pink flowers set in front of green foliage.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2024-04/760431_Cynorkis%20Hybrid%20Orchid_Gross_%20Carol.jpg?h=a3e84c09&itok=I-yQSYHU)
Cynorkis: A Jewel Box of Possibilities
Our first hybrid Cynorkis—Cynorkis Longwood Pink Gem—is now on view for the first time in our Orchid House for the next week, and ready to delight.
![The end of a stone bench with a carved head of an eagle in it.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2024-04/164105_Winter%20Garden_Davis_%20Harold%20_Hank_%20_Longwood%20Volunteer%20Photographer_.jpg?h=0e991fab&itok=uAe88oOs)
Do You Want to Know a Secret?
Our beloved Whispering Bench is not only a lovely place to sit and take in the view; it’s a place of physics, history, and curiosity, where secrets have been told—and fun has been had—for generations.
![Two dozen small sprouting seeds in a glass bowl.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2024-02/748221_FOR%20BLOG%20-%20seeds%20_Zale_%20Peter.jpg?itok=faW7IYAe)
Seed Banking on the Future
With our recent award of a competitive grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources as part of the Wild Resource Conservation Program, we are thrilled to be able to grow our efforts in preserving more species of conservation concern through the expansion of our seed bank.
![Pink, green, and white leaves of a houseplant.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2024-01/188510_Garden%20Highlights_Ward_%20Candie%20_Longwood%20Volunteer%20Photographer_.jpg?itok=6vHrlTYf)
Winter is for Houseplants
Follow along as I share some fantastic houseplants to add to your home, as well as ways to keep your existing houseplants thriving and beautiful this season.
![The arms of a person working with chrysanthemum blooms.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-10/726759_Chrysanthemum%20_%20morifolium%20_Susono-no-Hikari_Hare_%20Joe%20_Longwood%20Volunteer%20Photographer_.jpg?itok=9Fc73f7s)
A Triumphant Return
This year’s Thousand Bloom of Chrysanthemum × morifolium ‘Susono-no-Hikari’ started its journey as a vegetative cutting 18 months ago—and today is not only a sight to behold, but a culminating example of the unchanging beauty and art of people and plants working together.
![A person in a safety vest approaching a large fallen tree.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-09/690823_FOR%20BLOG%20-%20August%202023%20fallen%20white%20oak_Chinese%20Scholar-tree%20response%20_Altenburger_%20Tyler.jpg?itok=3dB-vlBC)
From Fallen Trees, An Uplifting Effort
It’s a question that’s been posed for years: if a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
![Several planted succlents in gray stone pots.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-09/691302_Planted%20by%20Longwood_Gross_%20Carol.jpg?itok=pX3ecwaW)
A Tiny Garden: Planted by Longwood
The beautiful terrariums, containers, centerpieces, cloches, and more living works of art, available for purchase in The Shop, are created by our talented Planted by Longwood team.
![Tall green grass with a single purple flower in the center of the image.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-08/658277_For%20Appalachian%20Jacob_s%20ladder%20blog%209.jpg?h=1dd5b30d&itok=KxHEWHd0)
Reaching for New Heights in Rare Species Conservation
Among our many conservation efforts is our recent work in propagating and restoring hundreds of one of the rarest plants in Pennsylvania, the Appalachian Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium vanbruntiae).
![A landscape at Longwood Gardens featuring tall trees and rhododenrons in bloom.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-07/652046_Photographer%20Larry%20Lederman%20_Miller_%20Jackie.jpg?itok=uzPY0gQO)
What Larry Taught Me: Photographing Longwood
I was asked to escort photographer Larry Lederman around the Gardens while he took photos for a book about the du Pont family gardens of the Brandywine Valley. At the time, I didn’t know that working with Larry would shape the next 14 months of my life and change how I view Longwood.
![A group of people standing inside an outdoor geometric sculpture in a garden bed.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-07/649451_Break%20What%20Needs%20Fixing%20FOR%20SEG%20BLOG%20.jpg?itok=yffZzknx)
Change and Adaptation, Realized
This year, as part of the Professional Horticulture Program, our nine students have been asked to design, create and maintain three garden designs based on the scheme of change and adaptation.
![A vase of purple flowers on a table.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-07/646708_2023%20International%20Organ%20Competition%20-%20Centerpieces_Shoemaker_%20Dave.jpg?h=785567c1&itok=GORRJXce)
Following Nature’s Cues for Floral Design
Found in such spaces as the Visitor Center, by the Guest Services desk in the Main Conservatory, or in the conservatory of the Peirce-du Pont House, our arrangements take their cues from the seasons and are styled in natural ways to highlight their connections to the Gardens.
![A bulldozer moving a large pile of dirt.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-06/377388_Compost%20for%20Chimes_Davis_%20Harold%20_Hank_%20_Longwood%20Volunteer%20Photographer_.jpg?h=1355dde2&itok=gdd00d6g)
The Secret in Our Soil
Whether compost is being used in our Gardens or in your garden, its benefits are numerous.
![Two hands, one holding a wood dow and the other the base of a plant.](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-06/641199_Kusamono%20Workshop_Gross_%20Carol.jpg?itok=yuC9Hyae)
The Singular Art of Kusamono
With its name composed of two Japanese characters that mean “grass” and “thing”, the literal translation of kusamono—a Japanese botanical art of small, potted grasses traditionally displayed next to bonsai as seasonal accent plants—may suggest that this Japanese botanical art is unassuming or falls secondary to its bonsai counterpart.
![a bonsai tree in a square pot](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-05/639649_Bonsai%20Forms_Gross_%20Carol.jpg?itok=5NwdBEv3)
The Beauty of Bonsai Styles
The way in which a tree grows is often determined by their environment, and as a bonsai artist, I look to honor that environment, and the way in which that tree would grow in nature, when determining how to shape and style a bonsai.
![two bees on organce flowers](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-05/174245_Garden%20Highlights_Ward_%20Candie%20_Longwood%20Volunteer%20Photographer_%20%281%29.jpg?itok=I6Z62a1V)
How to Create an Ecologically Friendly Home Landscape
While we often think of the landscapes around our homes as self-contained, they’re actually part of a broader landscape mosaic —and each home landscape can make a profound impact on that mosaic and the variety of wildlife (and people!) that rely on it.
![a forest floor with many black pots of small trees lined up in a row](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-02/620088_Wood%20Chip%20Reforestation%20Study%20Installation_Johnson_%20Lea.jpg?itok=-YG3CXlJ)
Stewardship Science: Testing Techniques to Benefit Biodiversity
The practice of land stewardship constantly raises new questions—how best to approach a new problem; what methods work best—that can be answered using the tools of ecological science.
![a close up image of pink and white hydrangea blooms](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_masonry_sm/public/2023-03/578445_Conservatory_Hare_%20Sue%20_Longwood%20Volunteer%20Photographer_.jpg?h=8cb97c7f&itok=r0lOp10_)
Classic Spring Beauties with a Twist
Through April, classic spring plants such as hydrangeas, azaleas, and fuchsias bloom indoors in new and exciting varieties.