Longwood Gardens

This Wednesday, a day usually reserved for group projects among the interns at BBG, we piled into a white van and headed to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. On the way we quizzed each other on botanical names for our herbaceous ID exam the next day, dozed, ate sesame sticks, and tried not to get carsick. It was exactly like summer camp.

We were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the horticulture facilities, which were SHOCKINGLY advanced. Since Longwood was originally the creative outlet for Pierre DuPont, ("Better Living through Chemistry"), it has an unimaginable endowment and can do whatever it wants. As a display garden (as opposed to a botanic garden, whose mission is to educate), aesthetics are of peak importance, and LITCHRALLY not a leaf was out of place. They use a computer to create perfectly proportioned soil mixtures. They have piano concerts on a Steinway in the conservatory like, every 2 hours. Every 2 years, 20 new people are accepted into their professional gardening program, which is fully funded by the garden and includes a stipend and - excuse me while I catch my breath here - housing on Longwood's grounds.

I'll let that sink in and then we can proceed with the photo onslaught.

Ready?

The bell tower whence toll the bells.

In the Witch Hazel family, which gets tri-color fall foliage.

B&W because this reminded me so much of one of those tree-free
photos of new buildings from the early 20th century. There are 4 acres
under glass at Longwood's conservatories.

Nothing but the grass and the vines is permanent. Here, and in many other
parts of the conservatory, the plants are switched out as often as
every few weeks, especially around holidays. Imagine the labor!

The green wall, designed by the illustrious Kim Wilkie.

The Meadow Garden is the new public expansion into some of
Longwood's thousand total acres of privately-owned land. In the
distance you can barely make out a little restored stone house,
original to the property, which now houses a gallery of ecological
garden design practices. The house is reached by a long, winding
meadow boardwalk. Dreamy.

At Christmas, the trees in this allee are filled with white lights.

It was a really fantastic visit. Upon my triumphant return to Brooklyn, a bestie texted "Look at the sky right now!!!" and this was the view from my window:

Goodnight, Brooklyn! Goodnight, sunset-aware BFFs. What a lucky, happy day.