At Longwood Gardens, we manage our natural areas to both promote native species diversity across the landscape and to help our guests create memorable and inspiring experiences discovering the dynamic beauty of our native habitats.

As our most ambitious expansion, reimagination, and preservation of our Conservatory and surrounding landscape in a century continues to take shape, we’re so pleased to share with you the latest moments and milestones along the way.

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.

We’re thrilled to have recently welcomed the five outstanding individuals that make up our 2023–24 Fellows cohort.

On October 5, 6, and 7, we are thrilled to share a Luminaria Nights display inspired by the artform of sashiko—a traditional hand-stitching practice developed in Japan

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?

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.

As the president and chief executive officer of Black Girl Florists and the owner of One Soul Events (Atlanta, GA), and in the spirit of Black Girl Florists’ mission, we are thrilled about our upcoming collaboration with Longwood.

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).

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. 

Along with our Professional Horticulture Program classmates, we recently completed one of the most exciting parts of our two-year program—our opportunity to experience horticulture in another country through our study abroad trip.

Staff and volunteers often put months of collection, foraging, work, and crafting into each handmade decorative you see in the Shop—and we’re so proud to share with you the story behind them.

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.

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.

We’re celebrating our newest brew with a special evening in our Beer Garden featuring Victory’s Senior Manager of Education and Training Max Finnance—who happens to be one of only 22 Master Cicerones in the world.

Longwood is not only a spectacular setting to immerse oneself in a beautiful outdoor environment, but it’s also one perfectly situated to engage young students with nature.

Whether compost is being used in our Gardens or in your garden, its benefits are numerous.

As advocates for green spaces with the ability to inspire an appreciation for nature in others, alumni of the Longwood Fellows Program often go on to lead nonprofit institutions with meaningful missions rooted in plants, conservation, research, and education.

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.

Our Fellows reflect on lessons learned and memories made during their field placements in London, Singapore, Niagara Falls, Cleveland, and Edinburgh.