What’s in Bloom

A vibrant azalea bonsai tree in full bloom with bright pink flowers, styled in an informal upright form with an exposed, gnarled root system. The tree is planted in a decorative, bright turquoise octagonal ceramic pot featuring relief carvings, set against a neutral, textured fabric paneled background.

Featured Bloom

Satsuki Azalea

Rhododendron 

Experience centuries of living artistry with the captivating Satsuki Azalea Bonsai Display, a celebration of the traditional Japanese "fifth month" blooming season. This exclusive exhibit showcases a rotating gallery of 75 rare azalea hybrids imported directly from Japan, sourced from Longwood’s permanent collection and exceptional loans from The Kennett Collection. Spanning over 20 distinct cultivars, the exhibition features everything from elegant, miniature shohin trees (the miniature category of bonsai), to grand, commanding specimens. Visitors can view the world-renowned, multi-colored blooms, where entirely different floral patterns and colors dramatically emerge on opposite sides of the same tree. Highlights include decades-old masterpieces shaped by world-influential grower Hiro Kobayashi. To complement the blossoms, nearly all these trees are presented in deeper than average glazed containers, an essential design pairing that keeps the moisture-loving roots from drying out while harmonizing with the vibrant flowers.  

 

See what’s in bloom … and enjoy the beauty of our Gardens.

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  • Rambler Rose

    Rosa ′American Pillar′

    Bred in 1902, Rambler Rose 'American Pillar' is a historic heirloom famous for its vigorous growth and dramatic midsummer display. This rugged rose effortlessly climbs 15 to 25 feet high, using thick canes to scale arches, pergolas, and trees. Though it blooms only once a year, it explodes with dense clusters of up to three dozen single, five-petaled blossoms. Each flower features a striking carmine-pink hue accented by a white center eye and bright golden stamens, a look that made it a sensation during the Edwardian era. After the summer show, it provides a brilliant autumn encore by producing a heavy harvest of bright red decorative hips that feed local songbirds through winter. Arches of the climbing rose, Rosa ‘American Pillar’, welcome visitors to the Gardens

  • Orchid Cactus; Queen of the Night

    Epiphyllum oxypetalum

    Epiphyllum oxypetalum, famously known as the orchid cactus or Queesn of the Night, is an extraordinary epiphytic cactus that trades daytime show for an intense, nocturnal spectacle! Native to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, it earns its common name because it grows anchored to rainforest trees rather than in soil like an orchid, while producing immense, intricate blossoms that rival the exotic beauty of the orchid family. The plant's true claim to fame is its massive, ten-inch white blooms that open after dark, and wither before sunrise. To rapidly attract nocturnal pollinators like moths, during this brief window, the expanding flower releases an intoxicatingly sweet perfume powerful enough to fill an entire garden space. You can see view our specimen on display in the Silver Garden. 

  • Tropical Day-flowering Waterlily

    Nymphaea ′Ultra Violet′

    Longwood Gardens celebrates a long history of growing, hybridizing and displaying waterlilies going back to 1956. This diverse collection, consisting of some of the finest tropical and hardy waterlily hybrids, is a mainstay of the Waterlily Display during the summer months at Longwood, and is accredited as one of the best waterlily collections by the Plant Collections Network in 2012.

  • Golden Alexanders

    Zizia aurea

    Zizia aurea, commonly known as golden alexanders, is a cheerful native perennial valued for its clusters of bright yellow flowers that bloom in spring above attractive parsley-like foliage. Native to eastern North America, it naturally occurs in moist meadows, open woodlands, and along streambanks. As an early-season nectar source, it supports a wide range of pollinators and serves as a host plant for black swallowtail butterflies. Its adaptability, low-maintenance nature, and ability to naturalize make it an excellent choice for pollinator gardens, rain gardens, and naturalistic landscapes. 

  • A low growing shrub with bright green leaves and haning panicles of small white flower

    Virginia Sweetspire

    Itea virginica ′Henry’s Garnet′

    This native, deciduous shrub is tough and adaptable. It grows 4 feet tall and will create thickets through root suckering, if left untouched. Fragrant, long white flower spikes appear in June. The foliage turns purplish red in the fall, and this stunning autumn color lasts well into the winter. As an added bonus, the plant is deer resistant and the flowers attract butterflies. ‘Henry’s Garnet’ prefers slightly cool, moist growing sites, although it will tolerate drier locations and performs well under a wide range of cultural conditions.

  • White, cup-shaped flower with many yellow anthers

    Japanese Stewartia

    Stewartia pseudocamellia

    Although known as the Japanese stewartia, Stewaria pseudocamellia is found in both Japan and Korea. It is a small, slow-growing, pyramidal, deciduous tree which typically matures to 20 to 40 feet. It has cup-shaped, camellia-like white flowers two and a half inches in diameter with showy orange-yellow anthers. The flowers appear in early summer. The Korean name for this tree is No-gak-namu which translates as "deer's horn tree", which symbolically describes the beauty of the mottled, peeling bark with its tones of orange, green and grey.

  • Clusters of small, tubular, bell-shaped flowers that are primarily white with faint purple or pink streaks inside. They are two-lipped (with three lower lobes and two upper lobes) and feature a prominent, hair-tufted sterile stamen (the "beardtongue".

    Penstemon

    Penstemon digitalis

    This native member of the plantain family, which blooms in June, is a favorite of bumblebees. Penstemon naturalizes well in full sun and dry to moist soil conditions, adding early interest to the Meadow Garden.

  • Aquatic plant with long, green leaves and clusters of white flowers floating on the water.

    Cape Pond-lily

    Aponogeton distachyos

    Aponogeton distachyos is a water lily-like plant that produces floating leaves and fragrant flowers from tubers growing at the bottom of water bodies. It is beneficial for water gardens, as it helps to absorb excess nutrients, which can reduce algae growth. Large oblong leaves (to 3-6” long) lie flat on the water surface. The plant is also a popular choice for ponds and water gardens for its ability to grow in both shallow and deeper water areas, making it versatile in pond design. The flowers reportedly have a hawthorn-like fragrance, hence the additional common name of water hawthorn. In South Africa, this plant is commercially grown for its edible tubers that may be added to stews.

     

  • Ohio Spiderwort

    Tradescantia ohiensis
  • Large, creamy white flowers with soft, butter-yellow centers and throats.

    Canna

    Canna 'South Pacific Ivory' 
  • Large, cupped, and deeply doubled, "old-fashioned" style carmine-red blooms averaging 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Each flower contains between 50 and 70 petals.

    Large-flowered Climber Rose

    Rosa 'Meiviolin' Eden 
  • Two white roses and one insect

    Hybrid Tea Rose

    Rosa 'KORbatam' Winter Sun
  • Clusters of large, bell-shaped, garnet-red or burgundy flowers hanging mysteriously just underneath the foliage.

    Mayapple

    Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty'
  • Dense clusters of feathery plumes, cream-colored flowers that appear in late spring or early summer.

    Goatsbeard

    Aruncus dioicus
  • Light lavender flower with many deeply divided, frilly petals at the center.

    Breadseed Poppy

    Papaver somniferum 'Lavender Semi-Double'
  • Purple flowers with five petals.

    Armenian Cranesbill

    Geranium psilostemon
  • Sky or pale blue, flowers consist of 5 large, petal-like sepals and smaller, hidden petals, with bright green, finely divided, thread-like leaves.

    Nigella 

    Nigella damascena 

  • Foxtail-lily; Desert-candle

    Eremurus × isabellinus ′Cleopatra′
  • Classic pea-like shaped vibrant-purple flowers with distinct wings.

    Bitter Pea-vine

    Lathyrus vernus
  • A light purple flower with a bee.

    Eastern Bee-balm

    Monarda bradburiana
  • Small, bell-shaped flowers, in soft lavender-blue or violet hues. The flowers have long, feathery stamens and pistils that protrude well beyond the petals, giving the plant a fuzzy or "lacy" appearance.

    Lacy Phacelia

    Phacelia tanacetifolia
  • Striking ornamental onion featuring a massive, 6 to 8-inch spherical flower head composed of hundreds of tiny, deep purple, star-shaped florets atop tall (3–4 ft) sturdy stems. I

    Ornamental Onion

    Allium 'Ambassador'
  • The large, trumpet-shaped foxglove-like pale purple flowers standout on tall , slender stalks.

    African-Foxglove

    Sesamum trilobum 
  • Clustered pink five peddle blooms with white centers

    Egyptian Star-cluster

    Pentas lanceolata ′Bunnie du Pont′
  • Small light pink with dark pink flowers with long, sharp-like petals

    Fuchsia

    Fuchsia 'Paula Jane'

  • Ghost-men

    Pachypodium geayi
  • Striking, compact orchids featuring fused sepals that form a wide, triangular, or tubular shape. They are distinguished by prominent, elongated "tails" (extended sepal tips) and small, hidden petals.

    Masdevallia Orchid

    Masdevallia hybrid

  • Thread-leaf Coreopsis

    Coreopsis verticillata ′Moonbeam′
  • Vibrant, cup-shaped crimson-magenta flowers with garnet-rose stamens.

    Hardy Waterlily

    Nymphaea 'Laydekeri Fulgens' 
  • Plant with silver-white leaves and clusters of small, yellow flowers

    Guadalupe Island Rock Daisy

    Perityle incana
  • Green thick rosette of leaves with red flower

    Hybrid Bromeliad

    x Vriesgoudaea 'Supernatural'
  • A vibrant azalea bonsai tree in full bloom with bright pink flowers, styled in an informal upright form with an exposed, gnarled root system. The tree is planted in a decorative, bright turquoise octagonal ceramic pot featuring relief carvings, set against a neutral, textured fabric paneled background.

    Satsuki Azalea

    Rhododendron 

    Experience centuries of living artistry with the captivating Satsuki Azalea Bonsai Display, a celebration of the traditional Japanese "fifth month" blooming season. This exclusive exhibit showcases a rotating gallery of 75 rare azalea hybrids imported directly from Japan, sourced from Longwood’s permanent collection and exceptional loans from The Kennett Collection. Spanning over 20 distinct cultivars, the exhibition features everything from elegant, miniature shohin trees (the miniature category of bonsai), to grand, commanding specimens. Visitors can view the world-renowned, multi-colored blooms, where entirely different floral patterns and colors dramatically emerge on opposite sides of the same tree. Highlights include decades-old masterpieces shaped by world-influential grower Hiro Kobayashi. To complement the blossoms, nearly all these trees are presented in deeper than average glazed containers, an essential design pairing that keeps the moisture-loving roots from drying out while harmonizing with the vibrant flowers.