A visit to Longwood Gardens

A few years ago I had ordered the Pennsylvania tourist guide in hopes of taking some day trips in my own area. One of the areas that interested me was Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia. I really wanted to see the Tulip displays. So once again we picked a day to go. I have picked some of my favorite pictures to share with you.

I traveled 4 hours and this is what I saw, a kitty!!!! They did not allow folks to take their own animals into the park, but we saw several cats roaming the grounds. This particular one was allowed in the house of Pierre Dupont and even let me pet him. A cat friendly place is my kind of place!

They planted pansies among the tulips. An interesting idea. It looked real pretty.

A few spots had these red tulips in the middle of all a different color. Jim and I couldn't figure out if this was an accident or planned.

I loved these white tulips. I never thought I would, since they have little color. I am definetly adding these to my garden next year.

The DuPont, also the founder of DuPont that makes chemicals traveled the world and gathered ideas to bring home. This is called the Italian garden. The blue you are seeing is blue tile (ok the blue is kind of hard to see in this picture), similar to the same type of material you would use inside your bathroom. The fountains turned off simultaneously and then turned back one. It was very fun to watch.

The idea gardens were full of ideas. They have planted lettuce in the middle of the flowers and used rose stems as a fence.

A bird of paradise. Isn't this the neatest bloom?


We found out that the bulbs are only grown for one year. So after these are done blooming they will pull out the plants, compost the bulbs and put something else that is blooming in the bed. We also found out they are very "recycling" minded at Longwood gardens. Our plastic cups at lunch were made from corn. They were able to compost the napkins, cups, plastic wear, straws and even some leftovers. I am intrigued by this and want to do some further research on how my cup becomes dirt.

There were some neat sculptures made from these shrubs. I wouldn't want anything this big in my own yard.