| Longwood Gardens, about 30 miles west of Philadelphia,
is one of the best gardens in the USA. They were founded by Pierre Du Pont
(1870-1954) a chairman of both General Motors and the chemicals giant. The
400 acres was originally bought by George Peirce in 1700 for £44. In 1798
his successors began planting trees to build one of the finest arboretums of
the time. In 1906 Pierre Du Pont bought the farm to save its trees which
were about to be logged for $16000. Today there are over 1000 acres and it
is managed as a non-profit making trust set up by him. |  |
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This is Fall and pumpkin time. Thus everywhere you look there are displays
of hundreds of gourds and pumpkins with some large ones having been carved
for a new display still being built. |
| This was Pierre Du Pont's weekend residence which he
extended considerably from the original with the addition of a large central
conservatory and a new rear wing. Today it is a museum covering his life and
the creation of Longwood Gardens. |  |
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There are long avenues of trees and fountains everywhere. This shot is
looking towards one of the major avenues of trees which is behind the trees
you see. |
| There are several major water features with musical
displays every couple of hours. There are dozens of jets in this show in an
area also used for outside concerts and dances. This is one of the smaller
displays. The main one is huge. |  |
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There are over 4.5 acres of greenhouses and conservatories and a number of
pools for water lilies in the centre. These pools are kept at 85ºF
and have a black dye added to enhance the displays. Some of the blooms are
huge. |
| These are leaves from a Longwood Hybrid Water Platter
and they can reach up to 8 feet in diameter after three weeks. The flowers
are white the first night they bloom and pink the second. |  |
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This gives an idea of the size of the pools and the conservatories. There
are four pools in this courtyard. Inside is a collection of hundreds of
orchids, some like the first pink one were 2-3 times the size of your hand. |
| Another area showed some of the bonsai trees. The
display is varied through the year as different trees look their best at
different seasons. This is a Sawara false cypress. |  |
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Whilst most bonsai are single trees, some are grown as clusters. These are
loose flower hornbeams and their training started in 1990. Some are over 100
years old and many have been trained since the 1960s. |
| This is a collection of plants all of which specialise
in capturing insects. While the insect goes down the long tube, the lid
closes and traps the insect. |  |
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An unusually coloured and large hibiscus - we have several bushes in our
garden but not as colourful as this. |
| One whole conservatory is reserved for cacti and
succulents, called the 'silver collection'. |  |
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There is a 'century plant' (agave), so called because it takes many years to
flower, once, and then dies. They flower more quickly when cultivated than
in the wild. The flower spike seen here will grow to 35ft and the staff have
removed a glass pane from the roof to allow it to continue to grow. |
| There is a display of about a dozen beautifully
restored tractors from the early part of the century. I like John Deeres! |  |
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I also like railways. This is a temporary exhibit of an LGB G scale garden
railway. It took me ages to find it despite the train horns - I thought they
were real trains in the distance. The sounds are actually digital recordings
of real engines. This model only had 7 cars although it is powerful enough
to pull over 100. All the wheels in both units are powered. |
| There were three loops each with their own train and
many bridges and buildings constructed just like the real thing. A guy in
Kansas has created a niche market building these and now supplies garden
railways throughout the US. |  |
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A wonderful display of colourful foliage is produced with
mass plantings of
different coleus varieties.
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| One whole area is devoted to topiary with over 50
different bushes all clipped to shape and in excellent condition. Keeping
them trimmed must be a full time job. |  |
 | Jan was fascinated by the gourd displays. They are
really colourful. We didn't realise there were so many different varieties. |
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A small part of the main fountain display when the main jets are not
'dancing'. When the last show of the day began we were in the wrong
position to see much at all. We also ran out of time and missed almost half
the garden despite having been there much of the day. Ah well, another
time....... |  |
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