It started in 1906, when the remnant of what had been an arboretum a half-century earlier was purchased by a lumber company for timber. Thirty-six-year-old Pierre S. du Pont was horrified at the prospect of losing a forest filled with historic and rare trees, and he purchased the land to save them. He wasn't planning to build Longwood Gardens, but within a few years, his desire to create a place of beauty where he could entertain his friends transformed a simple country farm into one of the country's leading horticultural display gardens.
Pierre S du Pont (1870-1954), painting by Bjorn P Egali, 1961. (detail)
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Today the 1,077- acre Longwood Gardens consists of varied outdoor gardens, ranging from formal to naturalistic in their landscape design, and 20 indoor gardens within a 4.5 acre group of heated greenhouses. Longwood's Conservatory contains 4,600 different types of plants and trees, and is specially decorated for the holiday season: A Longwood Christmas can be visited through Jan 6th.
The Mediterranean Garden tree is made of strips of colored glass
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Decorations for the Cupcake Tree were made by grades 1 & 2, Gov. Charles C. Stratton School, Swedesboro, NJ.
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More than 500,000 lights grace more than 150 trees throughout the outdoor Gardens.
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Longwood Gardens is located on US Route 1, about 3 miles northeast of Kennett Square, PA.
OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler (R) visiting Longwood Gardens with high school buddy Paula Botwinick (L) and Paula's daughter Arielle...we all had a great time!
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See more about me, Paula and Arielle in my article here.
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