Experience the Magic of the Season During A Longwood Christmas, November 22, 2024, through January 12, 2025

KENNETT SQUARE, PA…  It’s the most magical A Longwood Christmas ever as the botanical showplace debuts its long-awaited Longwood Reimagined expansion amid the splendor of its popular holiday display beginning November 22, 2024. Step into a world of dazzling new spaces, festive horticultural displays, and more than half a million lights. Timed Tickets to A Longwood Christmas are required and are available now at longwoodgardens.org.

Introducing Longwood Reimagined 

More than three years in the making, Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience expands the public spaces of the renowned central grounds of Longwood with new buildings, gardens, and amenities for guests to enjoy. The largest component of Longwood Reimagined is the new 32,000-square-foot West Conservatory. Designed by WEISS/MANFREDI, with gardens and water features by Reed Hilderbrand, the conservatory features asymmetrical peaks rising from a pool, giving the illusion that the building floats on water. 

Paul B. Redman, President and CEO of Longwood Gardens, said: “I am thrilled to welcome guests to experience Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience during our holiday season. A Longwood Christmas is always a magical time of year, and this year promises to be even more special as we invite guests to explore new areas and 17 acres of revitalized beauty, including two new glasshouses and stunning gardens and water features.”   

The interior of the West Conservatory features Mediterranean-inspired gardens set amid canals and fountains, creating an exquisite tapestry-like design that seamlessly integrates the old with the new. For the holiday, the West Conservatory features six radiant trees in shades of white and champagne floating on water. More than 100 baskets brimming with white orchids and baby’s burro's-tail sedum hang overhead, while signature plants, including Mediterranean Cypress and Bismarckia palms, stretch gracefully toward the glass ceiling, lit to highlight their natural beauty. 

A tokonoma, or alcove, nearby in the outdoor Bonsai Courtyard proudly displays a hardy bonsai embellished with ice-like ornaments and a kusamono, accented with a sparkling projection. 

Outside of the West Conservatory, two lit tree forms float on the water to welcome guests to the dynamic new space, while a grove of London Plane trees glow with celestial beauty, their canopies lit with hanging stars. From the West Conservatory Plaza, a glowing 200-foot light tunnel leads to the Main Fountain Garden, where a newly enhanced musical light show dances with yuletide cheer. 

Indoor Highlights

Longwood’s East Conservatory is transformed into a snow globe-like winter wonderland with shimmering white plantings, snow-covered evergreens, and frosted water features, culminating in a 24-foot-tall tree draped in icy elegance featuring glittering ornaments in cool shades of blue, white, and silver. 

Evoking the crystalline beauty of the new West Conservatory, at more than 30 feet, a translucent tree created by Studio Roso of Denmark adorns the flooded Fern Floor. Artfully lit, the tree’s unique design is fashioned from fine-gauged string, forming concentric circles from which intricate, hand-tied geometric ornaments are fastened, creating a glowing work of art. Ten nine-foot Fraser firs with glittering finishes surround the tree, accented by cascading white poinsettias. 

Guests will walk the red carpet as they enter the Music Room and step into a whimsical peppermint kingdom, lavishly decorated for a festive holiday evening, including an 18-foot-tall tree covered in red, white, and gold ornaments. A banquet table, adorned with beautifully decorated faux cakes and other holiday treats created by students from the culinary program at the Technical College High School Pennock's Bridge Campus in West Grove, PA, tempts guests. Walking through the gingerbread door, the adjacent room features a kitchen scene set for baking holiday sweets.

Charming horticultural features can be found at every turn throughout A Longwood Christmas. Thousands of colorful poinsettias, fragrant paperwhites, amaryllis, and other floral finery are highlighted throughout the conservatories. Festive horticultural touches as only Longwood can do are found in living wreaths fashioned from succulents, a living tree made of red bromeliads and foliage plants, an 18-foot-tall rotating tree in a sea of red poinsettias, and other plants and hand-crafted ornaments found throughout the eye-catching display.  

Other merry must-sees include the festively decorated trees seemingly floating over the Main Conservatory’s lush lawn. Inside Longwood’s historic Ballroom, community spirit shines as the Gardens showcase seven trees lovingly dressed in ornaments crafted by local non-profit art organizations.

Outdoor Highlights 

Outdoors, the landscape glistens with more than half-a-million enchanting lights, inviting guests to take a holiday stroll.  

The Flower Garden Drive features ribbons of lights leading to the popular Wildlife Tree, decorated with a rising phoenix featuring burned and blackened decorative branches with lights that resemble flames. Strands of raisins and nests full of birdseed restocked daily by volunteers entice woodland critters and feathered friends to stop by for a holiday bite. 

The Large Lake brings guests to a mesmerizing scene of stars that have seemingly fallen from the sky while glowing orbs illuminate the Italian Water Garden nearby. 

The Garden Railway, presented by Chase, delights young and old as engines, passenger cars, and holiday freight travel past miniature Longwood landmarks. 

A 25-foot cut tree, backed by hanging stars, floats on the water near the Chimes Tower, adorned with starry ornaments in metallic tones of copper, gold, bronze, and silver. 

The sounds of the season are also a special part of A Longwood Christmas, from the strolling carolers on select evenings to the daily fountain shows in the Open Air Theatre that feature 750 jets dancing to holiday favorites during five-minute shows that run throughout the day and evening.

Dining

The Fountain Room, Longwood’s new event space nestled below the Main Conservatory with spectacular views of the Main Fountain Garden, is the perfect place to savor the season with the Taste of Christmas culinary experience.  Guests can enjoy exclusive access to an imaginative array of chef-prepared sweet, savory, and carved-to-order selections; decadent desserts; non-alcoholic beverages, including an enticing hot chocolate station; and house wines, seasonal local craft beers, and a themed cocktail. A cash bar will also be available. Experience Taste of Christmas in The Fountain Room and enjoy holiday hospitality like never before. Special tickets are required.

The new 1906 full-service dining room, recently opened in its new location adjacent to the Main Fountain Garden, is open daily, with reservations required via Tock.

The Café and Beer Garden offer casual fare, hot chocolate, and other holiday treats for guests to enjoy. Throughout the holiday season the Beer Garden will feature Longwood Seasons: Mistletoe Mule crafted by Victory Brewing Company using ginger grown in the Gardens.  

The Gift of Longwood

Celebrate the season with a variety of elegant gifting options from Longwood. Hand-picked selections of home décor, gardening essentials, plants, and more await at the Garden Shop. The Garden Shop’s Design Team handcrafts inspiring terrariums and potted plants that are both beautiful and easy to care for in the Planted By Longwood line, making an ideal gift for plant lovers looking for a truly unique gift. 

For those with a passion for experiences, a gift of membership to Longwood supports the Gardens’ mission of excellence in horticulture, education, and the arts. Memberships are available for one to nine people, and offer a multitude of benefits and experiences. 

A Longwood Christmas is on view November 22, 2024–January 12, 2025. Admission to the holiday display is by Timed Admission Ticket, with tickets purchased in advance for a specific date and time. Tickets are $42 for adults and $23 for Youth (ages 5-18). Members require free, timed reservations every day. Gardens Premium Members and Innovators do not require reservations. Tickets and reservations are available now at longwoodgardens.org.

Tickets for Taste of Christmas in The Fountain Room, which include Gardens Admission, are $178.74 for adults (ages 21+), $117.34 (ages 13-20); and $74.94 (ages 5-12); Members $136.74 (21+), $94.34 (ages 13-20), $51.94 (ages 5-12). Kids 4 and under are free.  

About Longwood Gardens
In 1906, industrialist Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954) purchased a small farm near Kennett Square, PA, to save a collection of historic trees from being sold for lumber. Today, Longwood Gardens is one of the world’s great horticultural displays, welcoming 1.6 million guests annually and encompassing 1,100 acres of dazzling gardens, woodlands, meadows, fountains, a 10,010-pipe Aeolian organ, and grand conservatory. Expanding on its commitment to conservation, in 2024 Longwood Gardens acquired the 505-acre Longwood at Granogue, a cultural landscape in nearby Wilmington, Delaware. Longwood Gardens is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont, bringing joy and inspiration to everyone through the beauty of nature, conservation, and learning. Open daily, Longwood is one of more than 30 gardens in the Philadelphia region known as America’s Garden Capital. For more information, visit longwoodgardens.org.