Explore Longwood Gardens

Red roses fill the foreground, with topiaries and a sprawling Conservatory in the background.
Carol DeGuiseppi

Longwood Gardens, one of America’s quintessential landscapes, is a place of ever-changing seasonal beauty, handcrafted feats of horticultural wonder, and an awe-inspiring collection of the most beautiful plants from around the globe. 

From our humble beginnings as a Quaker farmstead and arboretum, to Pierre S. du Pont’s forward-thinking stewardship, to today’s collection of renowned landscape designers, horticulturists, and architects, our great garden of the world evolves and emerges again and again.

The garden is the smallest parcel of the world and then it is the totality of the world.

Michel Foucault

Explore nearly 200 acres of lush, formal gardens, open meadows, and winding paths to breathtaking Brandywine Valley vistas. Together, mesmerizing displays, feats of engineering, and science-based research and conservation work harmoniously toward the overarching goal to unite and inspire our guests in appreciation of beauty—as only Longwood can. 

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  • Mountain-laurel

    Kalmia latifolia is a broadleaf evergreen shrub that is native to the eastern United States.  It grows 5-15 feet tall and has clusters of showy white to pink flowers that appear in May and June.  Commonly known as mountain-laurel, it grows in partial shade and acidic, well-drained soil like its rhododendron relatives.  Kalmia latifolia is the state flower of Pennsylvania.

  • Chinese Wax-shrub

    Calycanthus chinensis is a deciduous shrub reaching about nine feet tall and wide. The noteworthy feature of this plant is the large, three-inch waxy camellia-like flowers with ivory-pink tepals surrounding golden yellow petals in May to July. The glossy green leaves turn a lovely golden in the fall. It does well in part shade and blooms at a young age.  In China it is found on slopes or near streams, usually under a canopy, in mountainous areas, about 1900 to 3200 feet in North Zhejiang Province. It was first introduced to North America in the 1980s and has been found to be hardy in USDA zones 6 to 9.