Longwood Gardens is currently hosting their regular Christmas events, and Mr. Todd Stewart’s floral design classes and plant science classes took a winter trip to observe the plants.
Longwood gardens change up the arrangements regularly according to the seasons and from November 17th, 2023, to January 7th, 2024, they are hosting A Longwood Christmas. Their theming is a retro Christmas, longwoodgardens.org describes “This holiday season, experience a radiance of retro, a bevy of bright, and numerous nostalgic moments with us. Marvel at playful trees draped in throwback baubles to shimmering tinsel to childhood-favorite toys.”
Senior Rachel Roberts said that she saw lots of poinsettias, roses, and lilies. Roberts said her favorite flower to see was “Glitter poinsettias, they “glitter” [as] part of the flower looks like little stars on the poinsettias.” She expands on how her favorite part to see was “looking at the poinsettias in the conservatory, I liked the different colors of poinsettias together.”
Roberts said that her group visited “the conservatory, the tower, underneath the water/light show area.” While the fountains were not running during this trip Longwood states that their open-air theatre fountain shows run “daily at 10:15 am and every 15 minutes starting at 12:00 pm” with the weather permitting. On View is also the garden railway. This is on view from September 30th, 2023, till January 7th, 2024.
The tower area that Roberts group visited is called the Chimes Tower District. “Originally designed as an arresting backdrop for the Main Fountain Garden, the Chimes Tower District is now a series of standout gardens and water feature” states longwoodgardens.org. It continues describing the many sights there are to see at this part of the garden as “at the crest of the hill, Oak and Conifer Knoll boasts an array of celebrated tree specimens, with some planted during founder Pierre S. du Pont’s time. The Eye of Water, Pear-Shaped Basin, and Waterfall.” This area was appropriately decorated for the Christmas season covered in many festive décor.
The visits can be varied in length and Longwood recommends “planning at least three to four hours to see the majority of the Gardens (including the Conservatory).”
