We offer world-class educational opportunities that range from internships and co-ops to a residential experience for future leaders in public horticulture.
Learn more about our internship areas:
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Summer Internship
The Arborist Intern will learn safe tree climbing practices, various tree pruning and tree preservation techniques, equipment operation, cabling/bracing and lightning protection installation and maintenance, tree removal techniques and record keeping through involvement with the day-to-day operation of Longwood Gardens’ arborist team. This immersion will help prepare an individual for portions of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist exam.
Areas for Growth
Experience with proper tree pruning techniques including crown raising, reducing, cleaning, and shearing
Experience performing small to medium sized tree removals via felling, climbing, and aerial lifts
Experience safe tree climbing practices via basic to advanced rope techniques
Experience safe operation of various pieces of equipment ranging from battery and gas chainsaws up to brush chippers and stump grinders
Experience rigging techniques during pruning and removals
Experience installing and maintaining cabling, bracing and lightning protection systems
Opportunity to learn tree identification and tree assessments including risk assessments
Opportunity to learn basic and advanced risk assessment tools while performing resistance drilling and sonic tomography
Opportunity to become familiar with arborist industry standards, Longwood SOPs, and Best Management Practices
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Year-Long Internship
Work both collaboratively and independently with extraordinary plants. At Longwood, research combines long-term vision with short-term problem solving. Our diverse portfolio includes both breeding and research endeavors. Explore ecological practices involved in operating horticultural research laboratories, greenhouse facilities, and outdoor trial beds.
Areas for Growth
- Maintain greenhouse and nursery plants using standard plant care techniques — watering, weeding, planting, repotting, mulching, training, etc.
- Propagate plants by seeds, cuttings, grafting, and other appropriate techniques
- Apply tissue culture practices to create and maintain clean in vitro stock by micropropagation and meristem isolation
- Perform daily laboratory tasks such as cleaning glassware, preparing culture media, and deflasking plantlets
- Collect quantitative and qualitative data of experiments and plant evaluations
- Develop, implement, write, and present a research project developed in accordance with the intern’s specific interests within the context of established research projects
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Year-long Internship
Gain insight into the distinct practice of gardening under glass through hands-on involvement in the day-to-day process of installing and maintaining indoor displays and collections. The Conservatory at Longwood Gardens features a series of wondrous spaces harmonizing the beauty of 19th-century classical architecture to horticultural displays both formal and contemporary. Work with world-renown indoor displays of more than 1,000 different seasonal crops and 5,000 permanent taxa, in one of the nation’s largest conservatories.
Areas for Growth
- Get hands-on experience working with seasonally changing displays
- Create displays using annuals, perennials, tropical plants, and bulbs
- Increase your knowledge of specialty collections including orchids, succulents, ferns, bonsai, and Mediterranean flora
- Fine-tune grooming, planting, and display maintenance practices
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Year-long Internship
Join our team for a 12-month, full-time Display Design internship and work with world-class design and horticulture teams. From winter’s wonders under glass to the vibrancy of our iconic spring blooms, dazzling seasonal displays at Longwood elevate horticulture into art. The Display Design Intern will be involved in all aspects of the design process in the creation of world-class displays, including displays for our new West Conservatory opening in fall 2024 as part of Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience—the most ambitious expansion, reimagination, and preservation of our Conservatory and surrounding landscape in a century. During the internship, add creative and innovative projects to your portfolio.
What You Gain
- Practice using creative thinking to complete visual display elements
- Hands-on training in landscape design and an overview of display operations from the early planning stages through implementation
- Opportunities to support our design team with CAD drawings, construction documents, visual aids, photography, research and development of new displays, and cross-departmental collaboration
- Opportunities to work on a variety of exciting projects throughout the year
- Exposure to Horticulture experts
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Year-long Internship
Learn the systems and horticultural skills needed to manage a state-of-the-art container production greenhouse through hands-on involvement in the daily operations of a production facility. Whether growing for display or for commercial purposes, learn how to grow precisely and efficiently. Longwood’s new nursery production greenhouse, opened in December 2020, accommodates a variety of plant materials, growing methods, and environments. Consisting of a 15,600-square-foot headhouse and 65,348-square-foot greenhouse, the new facility allows for a greater level of environmental control, automation, and overall sustainability.
Areas for Growth
- Propagate plants by seed and vegetative means
- Learn to mix various types of growing media
- Work collaboratively with the production team to ensure the highest quality crops are grown efficiently and consistently
- Assist in the upkeep and cleanliness of the greenhouse and other work areas and perform primary plant care in the absence of full-time staff
- Utilize automated systems for transplanting, potting, repotting, staking, tying, grooming, watering, and fertilizing
- Transport potted plants to and from growing areas
- Assist with installations of large displays and garden-wide projects
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Year-long Internship
Be immersed in both the practice of land stewardship and the science of ecology, learning from varied experiences that range from restoration of native plant communities and scientific data collection to GIS mapping and invasive species management.
Guided by principles of ecological science, Longwood’s Land Stewardship and Ecology program adaptively manages the diverse natural lands that surround our formal gardens. Our multidisciplinary team advances scientific understanding while restoring biodiversity and planning for future sustainability.
Areas for Growth
- Support Longwood Gardens’ Land Stewardship & Ecology team in the management of 700+ diverse acres of forests, meadows, wetlands, streams, ponds, and agricultural lands in a southeastern Pennsylvania Piedmont landscape, including the 86-acre Meadow Garden
- Perform daily stewardship activities such as planting, meadow mowing, trail maintenance, and invasive species management
- Help advance scientific research in ecology and test innovative land stewardship practices
- Collect and analyze field, archival, and greenhouse data
- Review and report on current scientific literature and historical information
- Create and revise plans and GIS maps
- Engage with volunteers and participate in educational programs related to land stewardship
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Year-long Internship
In this role, you will become an integral member of the team while gaining exposure to various aspects of marketing and communications, as well as hands-on experience supporting a well-known brand.
Areas for Growth
Opportunities to create content, including writing and art directing for various platforms and audiences, such as social media, email, website, print publications, press, and community relations.
Experience in (depending on interests):
- Photography and videography
- Creating and managing marketing, communications, and/or PR campaigns
- Social media management
- Website content management using the Drupal platform
- Event planning
The ability to work across different teams and departments
Knowledge of how to involve and balance the needs of multiple internal stakeholders
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Summer Internship
The Orchid Collection internship provides the opportunity to learn about the science and art of orchid growing and collection curation. Interns will learn all the basics of orchid cultivation, be introduced to systems of orchid collection curation, and have the opportunity to participate in unique initiatives, like orchid hybridization and education, and engage with and visit other orchid nurseries and collections.
Areas for Growth
Orchid repotting with multiple genera in multiple mediums
Watering and fertilizing
Orchid display management
Inventories, labeling, and tracking systems
Orchid hybridization
Orchid lab work (possible, but not guaranteed)
Knowledge on:
Orchid culture
Orchid production, from seeds to cloning
Orchid management systems
Orchid biology
Connections to some of the great orchid nurseries and collections in the US and world
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Year-long Internship & Summer Internship
From formal layouts and highly manicured plantings to experimental approaches to gardening and design, Longwood’s outdoor areas encompass a variety of beautiful landscapes. Learn the care and maintenance of herbaceous and woody plants throughout Longwood Gardens’ diverse 1,077 acres of landscapes and gardens. Tend to an awe-inspiring collection of the most beautiful plants from around the globe including blooming bulbs, tropical foliage, rare trees, and more.
Areas for Growth
- Learn industry standards for planting, weeding, mulching, watering, pruning, staking, and fertilizing
- Work with a variety of woody plants, herbs, bulbs, ground covers, roses, vegetables, and fruits in Longwood’s most intensively cultivated areas
- Install and maintain large-scale annual displays
- Learn vegetable and fruit culture and harvest
- Study native perennial and other exotic perennial plants
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Year-long Internship
Gain plant health diagnostic skills such as proper pest scouting and identification techniques and the recognition of common plant disease/pest infestation symptoms on plants. Plant Healthcare at Longwood is a philosophy that guides us as we address plants and wildlife that threaten the Gardens and natural lands.
Longwood’s proactive approach uses a robust scouting program, custom management plans for specific pests and incoming invasives, as well as cultural and biological control methods for landscape, conservatory, and greenhouse environments.
Areas for Growth
- Assist PHC staff in scouting for and diagnosing pest problems on a wide variety of crops grown in the greenhouse, conservatory, landscape, and natural environments
- Investigate the biology and control of pests including the design and implementation of pest sampling and monitoring programs, release of beneficial insects in the conservatory, and evaluation of the effectiveness of cultural practices, beneficial organisms, and chemical controls
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Year-long Internship
The Plant Information and Mapping Internship provides a hands-on experience in the day-to-day operations and management of a plant records office at a large public garden with more than 13,000 taxa.
Areas for Growth
Gain knowledge on methods and techniques applied in maintaining and disseminating plant records and mapping information at a public garden.
A thorough understanding of the principles of plant nomenclature
Experience
Creating educational labels for visitors and accession labels for staff
Conducting plant inventories, and inputting field observations and plant measurements in ArcGIS alongside the Plant Information Field Specialist
Recording GPS field data of the plant collection and the built environment using ArcGIS alongside the GIS Specialist
Exposure to Horticulture experts and plant identification.
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Year-long Internship
Learn propagation, potting, labeling, record-keeping, pruning, and transplanting techniques through involvement with the day-to-day operation of Longwood Gardens’ woody plant nursery. Explore the world of woody plants including flowering trees, shrubs, and conifers at one of the largest public gardens in the US.
Areas for Growth
- Prune, maintain, and evaluate woody and herbaceous plant material and conduct general maintenance including weeding and mulching
- Prepare trees and shrubs for transport and installation in the display gardens by hand digging, ball-and-burlapping, and using a tree spade
- Assist with labeling plants and recordkeeping