Ni hao! Earlier this month, we boarded three flights, flew for 24 hours, and arrived in Taipei, Taiwan on a two-week orchid adventure to attend the Taiwan International Orchid Show, explore new orchid breeding and cultural techniques, and see firsthand new and innovative orchid display trends in an area known most notably for its spectacular Phalaenopsis, among other beautiful orchids.

From our roles as part of the Longwood Natural Lands Team and prescribed fire crew, to our work fighting wildfires across the country through the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry Wildland Fire and Delaware Wildland Fire Program—including a deployment to the Idaho Panhandle National Forests this past summer—we are thrilled to be part of (and often on the front lines of) the evolving field of fire ecology. The field is a hot topic gaining traction at Longwood and beyond, and one that helps us steward the land we love.

Marking a huge accomplishment in our plant breeding program, we are thrilled to announce the release of our first green-flowered clivia—a remarkable feat decades in the making! As our sixth Clivia miniata released from our breeding program, our newest clivia is certainly a sight to behold but, alas, currently without a name … and we need your help!

As the reach of humans continues to extend into even the farthest corners of the globe, what was once remote wilderness has now been impacted by humans, and the need for measures to conserve rare plants is greater than ever. Here at Longwood, our plant exploration program has changed and evolved in response to such changing measures.

Central Asia is home to an incredibly beautiful, exciting, and charismatic flora, much of which is found nowhere else in the world. Our first-ever trip resulted in great promise of future field explorations to bring new and exciting Central Asian species back to Longwood and other US gardens.

Many guests visit Longwood Gardens to appreciate, enjoy, and study our carefully curated, world-class collection of more than 11,000 kinds of plants. Occasionally, plants find their way to the Gardens without the assistance of horticulturists ... Very rarely, a plant is found that defies logic and provides insight into the horticultural history and ecological health and capacity of the interface between Longwood’s gardens and natural lands.

Recently, we were able to bring some orchids from the Longwood collection to the Mid-Atlantic American Orchid Society (AOS) Judging Center. We were thrilled to receive 10 awards on eight plants, and among them are some rather important awards!

For the past several years, we have been working closely with Victory Brewing Company to create a unique collection of botanically-inspired beers. While some of the ingredients used in flavoring these beers have come to us from around the world, others were grown right here at our Gardens. All, however, possess rich botanical histories that have imbued these beers with a unique character (and flavor!) that is quintessentially Longwood. Get to know our brews better by taking a closer look at some of the plants essential to our brewing process.

What does it take to be an ecological gardener, beyond filling landscapes with a diverse selection of native plants? While the vast majority of our native fauna depend on plants directly or indirectly for their survival, many animals also have specific environmental needs that must also be met, as the physical environment of the garden provides shade, shelter, and living space for its residents.

Plant exploration is vital to bringing new and potentially useful plants to Longwood Gardens. These plants may be used for various purposes: creating displays, systematically building our collection of over 11,000 types of plants, breeding new plants, or for plant conservation. For the past two years we have targeted the Caucasus region, which encompasses the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, to search for new hardy plants.

Every March, a special botanical and horticultural rarity goes on display that creates a palpable excitement and fervor among our guests—the fabled Himalayan blue-poppies (Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’). They are poster children for a horticultural pursuit from which no plant group is immune—the quest for blue flowers. There are other blue-flowered plants, but why are they so rarely encountered and why are they so alluring?

Four months after Hurricane Irma slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast, some public gardens are still picking up the pieces. On December 10, 2017, Longwood sent a team of 12 staff members to Florida to assist with post-hurricane recovery at Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables), Naples Botanical Garden, and Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (Miami), all of which suffered extensive damage.

In October we wrapped up our third season of a friendly competition in our Trial Garden. Our gardeners submitted plant combinations and designs that were showcased for all of our guests to enjoy—and vote for their favorites!

This July, in the dark of the new moon, an unusual celebration will be taking place all over the United States. No, it’s not the Fourth of July—it’s National Moth Week! From July 22 through July 30, nature lovers and moth enthusiasts across the country will be celebrating these secretive, under-appreciated insects.

With soft, pastel-colored flowers, Clivia miniata ‘Longwood Sunset’ is a color breakthrough for our 40-year-old clivia breeding program. Apricot and peach tones imbue the reflexed, overlapping tepals with hues of a blushing sunset. Before being named and released, ‘Longwood Sunset’ received multiple awards at the North American Clivia Show in 2014. This year ‘Longwood Sunset’ will be exclusively available for purchase through a partnership with White Flower Farm.

Every year during A Longwood Christmas, we feature a small, tucked-away display of poinsettia cultivars in our North Passage (adjacent to our Bonsai display). These varieties are part of our efforts to continually improve the quality of our horticulture displays and introduce new plants to our guests. Midway through the Christmas season, a panel of gardeners, growers, researchers, and our display designer meet up to evaluate the poinsettias and decide which plants we want to grow in the future. Here are some of the panel’s thoughts from this year.

When our founder, Pierre S. du Pont, purchased the property where Longwood Gardens now stands, he did so to rescue and conserve an exceptional collection of historic trees originally planted by the Peirce family. Peirce family members, who began farming the land in the 1700s, were interested in natural history and planted an arboretum covering 15 acres. Since the time of du Pont’s purchase, we have continued to protect the original stand of trees—now called Peirce’s Park—while developing and adding to the collection.

For a second season, staff members from all corners of the Gardens used their creative talents to design garden plots in our Trial Garden—all while engaging in a friendly competition. The process is a way for us to showcase new plants for our guests, evaluate each plant’s suitability for our display, and spotlight our staff’s design talents. Participants selected three to eight plants from a list of more than 160 plant species and cultivars. This year we had a total of 15 different combinations, including the top three combinations from last year's Trial Garden. The results are in!

Plant exploration plays a vital role in Longwood’s efforts to bring new plants into the Gardens. We travel to targeted regions throughout the world to find new plant species, which we then bring home to grow and evaluate. I recently finished a collection trip to the floristically rich Republic of Georgia; the goal of the trip was to explore seldom-visited regions of the country to search for and collect new species of woody and herbaceous plants.

Like many gardens throughout our region, Longwood has been doing its part to help the monarch butterfly. A wonderful byproduct of these efforts is that many other native butterflies also benefit. In fact, Longwood's Meadow Garden is home to dozens of different butterfly species, with more being identified each year as the landscape matures. While many of these butterflies are important pollinators like the monarch, others will ignore flowers almost entirely, and are drawn to the Meadow Garden for other reasons. Indeed, in order to enjoy these beautiful insects, we need to manage their habitat in ways that benefit all of their different life stages—larva (caterpillars), pupa (chrysalises), and adults (butterflies).