Longwood Gardens in southeast Pennsylvania, U.S.A., has been on my bucket list for years and I finally got the chance to visit this outstanding place last week. Entry tickets are timed during the summer so my friend and I had no choice but to explore the gardens during a downpour. Were we disappointed? Not at all. In fact, the wet plants shone like jewels and all the fountains–many, many fountains–added up to a surreal waterworks experience. We were literally awash in water falling in rain drops and gushing upwards in balletic fountain displays.

Fountains and more fountains

The gardens are absolutely gorgeous, of course, but my guess is that the fountains, particularly the Main Fountain Garden (pictured above and below), are the major draws. I’ve never been to Versailles but I imagine it looks something like what we encountered at Longwood.

The Main Fountain Garden boasts stats that boggle the mind:

• 1,719 water jets
• 5 miles of pipes
• 35,000 gallons of water used daily

But all that doesn’t compare to the awesomeness of the choreographed show, complete with music, that delights spectators several times a day. At night, the fountains are lit up.

Romancing the roses

Longwood Gardens is indeed many gardens linked together in one vast estate (formerly the home of the du Ponts). Pathways lead you from one gasp-inducing scene to another, like this circular courtyard bordered by rose covered arches.

Playing with scale

Everything at Longwood Gardens is big. Large gardens. Huge fountain displays. Long, long walks past sweeping vistas. And enormous trees. I didn’t really get a sense of how big some of the trees in the gardens were until I walked right up to them. The Oak And Conifer Knoll (partly shown, above right) includes many rare specimen trees that are a wonder to behold, especially when you consider many are over a century old, having been planted during founder Pierre S. du Pont’s time living here.

The bell tower (above left) overlooks a 50-foot waterfall and lagoon. The tower houses a 62-bell Carillon which plays a haunting melody that enhances your stroll through the woods.

Many of the paths at Longwood meander so that the visitor is suddenly surprised as a view opens up around a bend. Other paths, like the one shown below, are simply meant to be grand walks in their own right.

This long allee features a bright row of Caladiums. I could only imagine how eye-searingly bright this bed would look like at high noon on a sunny day.

A touch of Italian

A lot of the gardens have an Italianate feel to them which gave them a marvellous kind of glamour.

The garden shown above is aptly named The Italian Water Garden. A very large pond (not shown) feeds the fountains via a unique staircase-like waterfall (shown below).

Intimate courtyards tempt the visitor to slow down and take in the peaceful atmosphere.

Gardens everywhere, including indoors

We didn’t get a chance to visit the huge (I mean big-as-a-large-indoor-shopping-mall huge) conservatory at Longwood Gardens. Part of it was undergoing renovations and, to be honest, we just didn’t have the time or the energy to take in all that the gardens had to offer (more on that below). But we did manage to sneak a peek inside the Pierce-du Pont House. The atrium alone, seen below, is worth ducking inside. But I recommend taking the time to see the entire home which has been styled as a museum and learning centre for history buffs and gardeners alike.

Surprising plantings everywhere

Tropical and desert plants made surprising appearances throughout the gardens and not just within indoor displays like the atrium seen above.

I loved this dry garden (shown below). Well, actually it wasn’t all that dry given the downpour we endured throughout our visit. But there seemed to be so many ideas to inspire your own sunny spot. And you wouldn’t need a lot of space, either. I loved how this garden included a lot of small beds and large containers.

In the photo below you can see the rose arbours (featured in photos nearer the top of this post) in the distance. This is one of the few situations where I could see one garden beyond another. So many of the gardens at Longwood are strategically placed and well hidden by shrubs, hedges and trees so that you don’t know what you’ll encounter next until you’re immersed in it.

I could go on and one about Longwood Gardens but, truth be told, my friend and I only saw a portion of them. To give you an idea of how big Longwood is, we spent several hours walking (until our feet were sore and blistered) and put in way more than the aspirational 10,000 steps. All that and I figure we saw about 2/3 of the gardens. I can’t wait to go back again.

VISITOR TIPS

1. Time your timed tickets wisely. We couldn’t spend the entire day at the gardens and we knew we didn’t want to miss the Main Fountain Garden show so we reserved tickets for entry at 10:30 a.m. which gave us plenty of time to meander down to the fountains, enjoying various other gardens along the way, with plenty of time to catch the 11:15 a.m. fountain show.

2. Get the best fountain show vantage point. When I go to Longwood next time (and I have no doubt that I will see these incredible gardens again), I’ll make sure to stand at the far end of the sunken fountain garden opposite the main fountain display. As it was, I watched the show from an angle at a relatively close distance to the main display. It was still a spectacular show (you get a glimpse of it in the video above) but what I hadn’t realized until after the show is that there are all kinds of other fountains in the sunken courtyard that are also putting on a display in tandem with the main fountains. As I’ve mentioned repeatedly throughout this post, Longwood Gardens does everything in a really big way.

3. Check out the the Longwood Gardens website before you go. As garden websites go, the Longwoods site is very good. Loads of information and photos will help you decide what you want to see and when you’d want to see everything–time of day and which season. Christmas is particularly popular with tickets selling out very quickly.

4. Visit the Conservatory if you can. This place will most definitely be on my agenda on my next visit. The building is immense but is elegant in design with a decidedly Victorian style in the original part and a sympathetic yet modern new extension. To give you an idea of its size, one feature is a full-sized ballroom which is one of the smaller spaces within the structure. There are also Orchid and Camellia houses, a Silver Garden, an Orangery, and an indoor Children’s Garden.

5. Don’t bypass the garden store. Even if you’re not the souvenir-purchasing type, the store is worth a look at. From kids’ toys to kitchenware, there are things to delight the eye and beautifully displayed. There is also a sizeable nursery for purchasing live plants. As a Canadian who is not allowed to bring plants over the border, this part of the store was painful to behold but I dove in anyway.

6. Make your Pennsylvania stay a multi-day and multi-garden experience. For whatever historic, environmental and serendipitous reasons, southeastern Pennsylvania is home to several world class gardens of which Longwood is one of the larger. We stayed three nights near the town of Chadd’s Ford and visited Longwood Gardens one day and equally world class Chanticleer Garden the following day (more on that place in my next post). We missed seeing nearby Winterthur, unfortunately. It will most definitely be a must-see next time around.