Explore Longwood Gardens

Wide view of fountain garden on a green lawn bordered by trees, in half light and half shadow.
Holden Barnes

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.

Through Longwood Gardens and its program of outstanding horticultural display, every visitor to the Gardens has the opportunity to gain, culturally and spiritually, a better peace of mind.

Russell J. Seibert, Longwood’s first director

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. 

Explore Our Gardens

  • Our Districts
    A stone path winds through a lush room of colorful plants with a hanging light above

    Our Districts

    Explore nearly 200 acres of lush, formal gardens, open meadows, and winding paths.

  • Our Seasons
    looking through fall leaves to the canopy cathedral treehouse

    Our Seasons

    We honor the four seasons with five unique Longwood seasons, celebrating the bounty of our gardens throughout the cycles of renewal, growth, and ever-evolving splendor. 

  • Our Plants
    close up of orange Clivia Miniata with green and yellow center

    Our Plants

    Explore over 10,000 species and varieties of plants, representing 200 different plant families. 

  • Our Science
    A person holds a small vial with plant material inside in a lab

    Our Science

    Our scientific work lays the groundwork for discoveries that expand our understanding of the natural world and help perpetuate and celebrate its beauty for generations to come.

  • Japanese Wisteria

    This wisteria, native to Japan, is highly prized for its very long, fragrant racemes of flowers in late spring. The flowers do not all open at once, but begin to open at the base of the raceme and open progressively to the tip. In the Wisteria Garden, the vigorous twining vines are grown on a heavy arbor and also trained into tiered tree forms supported by metal poles. 
  • Greater Yellow Lady's Slipper

    This orchid was once more common in southeastern Pennsylvania, but has become rare due to habitat loss. Lady’s slipper orchids can be incredibly long-lived; the plants seen here were planted in the Garden in 1963.  The greater yellow lady’s slipper was the first species entered into Longwood’s plant conservation program.