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A few days ago, my daughter and I visited a treasure of Pennsylvania, Longwood Gardens, just outside of Philadelphia. It could not have been a more perfect day to visit, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the upper sixties (F). I took 392 pictures! It’s been difficult to whittle them into a manageable post, but, with preemptive apologies, here’s my try!
I. Princess Trees along the main pathway:
A couple years ago on a ride with my son to a town about ninety miles south of our home, in a hardiness zone one warmer than our own, I started noticing lovely purple blooming trees among the other trees on the hillsides. They were nothing I was familiar with, and I’ve wondered about them ever since. I saw many of them again on our trip to Longwood, again beginning about 90 miles south of home, and I hoped that I might find the answer when we arrived at the gardens. Little did I know they would be the first thing we saw!
Princess Trees were brought here in the late 1800s as ornamental specimens. While lovely, they are considered invasive here, growing rapidly and prolifically, often smothering out native species. They grow between thirty and sixty feet tall and are happiest in hardiness zones 7-9. At Longwood, they line the path between the main entrance and the conservatory.
II. The Conservatory–Entering the conservatory is like entering a lush, tropical garden. It’s filled with trees, palms, and plants of all varieties.
Two of my favorite trees:
The textures in these palms are what caught my eye:
There were many beautiful flowers in the borders. So hard to choose just a few!
The Silver Garden, still within the conservatory, is filled with succulents:
We skipped the children’s garden and walked the Garden Path, where I saw a familar, yet different, sight:
III. The Orchid Room in the conservatory deserves its own section. Recently renovated and reopened in late winter this year, it is a large, naturally bright room where orchids are displayed gallery-style, in pots installed along the four walls of tall windows. Seemingly small, it holds an enormous number of orchids. I promise to show you only six of my favorites!
I probably should write a whole separate post about the orchids–so many of them were my favorites! But now, on we shall move!
IV. Fountains–Shortly after we left the conservatory, a show began at the Main Fountain Gardens, and we enjoyed streams of water dancing and leaping into the sky to the strains of Aaron Copeland’s Rodeo and other classical masterpieces.
As spectacular as the Main Fountain Garden is, my daughter and I were perhaps more enchanted by the Italian Water Garden, a more natural, serene setting:
There is another fountain garden in the open air theater, but we did not manage to catch one of the shows there. On summer weekend nights, and at Christmastime, there are colorful, illuminated fountain shows. We caught two of those on a visit in December 2019, and they were fantastically choreographed and presented!
If you are interested in the workings of the fountain display, you can visit the historic Pump Room and Gallery and see some of the old equipment. Additionally, Longwood offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the current system, at an additional cost.
V. Wisteria–We came at just the right time to hit the Japanese Wisteria at its best!
VI. The Rose Garden, sans roses! Just before we left, I spotted a small garden at the end of the temporarily closed Topiary Garden. It was the Rose Garden, but only one rose bush had any open flowers this early in the season. The borders of this bed, however, were kaleidoscopic!
Well, congratulations for making it to the end! Perhaps I stretched the intent of Six on Saturday a bit to fit in most of what I wanted, but I hope you’ve enjoyed this virtual tour of Longwood Gardens in mid-spring. Do you have a favorite garden anywhere near you? I’d love to hear about it! Thank you to The Propagator for hosting this weekly meme. Check out his post for the week, and perhaps a few others that have linked to it!
Cosmos and Cleome 
Wow, what a visit! You had some beautiful weather and the photos are exceptional. I don’t know how you whittled the pictures down as much as you did, the editing room floor must have been covered lol
Thanks for sharing. I think I need more lupines 😉
Hahaha! Yes, yes you do need more lupines! I briefly had a few here, up in the tree house garden. They lasted three years, bloomed once, and then just disappeared. I may be tempted to try again.
One thing I left out was the gorgeous border comprised of blue delphiniums and tall yellow snapdragons, interspersed with giant pots of yellow and blue pansies. #aspirations!
What a surprise! I would not have guessed that Paulownia tomentosa (empress tree) would be happy in that region, and certainly would not expect it to naturalize and become invasive. It is not naturalized here, and the climate is milder. I think of it as a tree that dislikes frost.
I was to Longwood Gardens once in November (obviously not prime time) so all I ever saw was the conservatory. I’ve always wanted to go back. So, thank you for taking me there, virtually. The Princess Trees were a surprise. Too bad they are invasive, as they are so pretty! I don’t know if it would be worth the trip but Yonkers, New York has a fantastic public gardens (and it’s free!) called Untermyer Gardens. It’s being restored, and I was last there in 2019, so I don’t know how far along the restoration is. The last time I visited was in September of 2019 and there was a lot of interesting plantings.. It has buildings that are (or were) in ruins and, for me, that’s actually part of the interest (besides its history, which I have blogged about.) Alana ramblinwitham.
Thanks for visiting, Alana. My daughter is a student at NYU, so a Yonkers visit isn’t out of the question. I’m glad you enjoyed the virtual tour!
Fantastic visit that you captured so well!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you for visiting, and you are welcome!
Longwood Gardens is an amazing place! I was there in 2008 when they built the amazing treehouses. What a perfect day you had!
392 photos–wow! But I can see why (and I must confess, I do that type of thing often, as well 😉 ). This does seem like the perfect time of year to visit Longwood Gardens. Maybe someday I’ll see it, and I’ll make a note to aim for mid- to late May. 🙂
Goodness! That garden must be amazing! You have some wonderful photos Kimberley. It is all gorgeous! There are no such gardens anywhere near me, but one day I hope to visit a couole in the north-west of Germany. We have a ‘garden’ nearby that opens for visits, which is very charming, but in a different way.