Day With My Friend
- Fernanda Fisher
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Not long ago, I had the chance to spend a lovely day with my friend Marie at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
Spending the day together, we took in the winter beauty of our surroundings, laughing and talking. Marie is a photographer, so we also spent much of the day quietly observing and photographing what we saw. It was the kind of day that resulted in a smile as I closed my eyes to sleep.
Getting There
To make the trip as relaxing as possible, we took Amtrak to Wilmington, Delaware. From there I hired a car service to take us to Longwood. While there were taxis at the station, getting return transportation was not a guarantee. I didn’t want us to miss our return train so the car service rounded out the ease of the trip.
If you have read any of my previous blogs, you know how much I love travelling by train. Waiting for my train in Alexandria, I struck up a conversation with a woman about traveling. We swapped stories about places we love to see and where we wanted to go in the future. I waited three stops for Marie to hop on the train and join me.
While plugging in my phone to charge, I caught up on the news and cleared out my inboxes. At one point on the return trip I closed my eyes and took a brief nap. Napping behind the wheel of a car is highly inadvisable, but on a train, it is perfectly fine.
Longwood Gardens
Pierre du Pont, who started the gardens in 1906, had a passion for gardening. After his wife died in 1914, du Pont spent most of his free time focused on making his gardens something the public could both enjoy and learn from.
Pierre du Pont formed the Longwood Foundation in 1946 to prevent the government from taxing the vast acreage. Pierre continued to design, build, and plan Longwood until his death in 1954.
What du Pont left for the public is a treasure to behold at any time of year. The vast estate offers meadows and forests, an Italian Water Garden, several lookout towers and multiple conservatories.
You will need about four hours to really enjoy all that there is to offer at Longwood Gardens. If you want to stop for a snack or lunch there is a lovely cafe as well as a more formal restaurant called 1906.
We stopped for a bowl of chili con carne and a hot latte mid-way through our visit. The chili was delicious but the latte came from a commercial machine and was just okay.
Discovering the Gardens
Marie and I spent half of our visit wandering around the grounds, admiring the winter landscape. Several areas of color, including Red Twig Dogwoods and another Dogwood variety called Budd’s Yellow, stood out.
Green lawns stretched out to fountains covered for the winter.
A topiary garden, with various shapes and even a bird or two, could be seen along a walkway.
People walked in pairs or singles along the various trails and paths chatting and often pushing a stroller or pram.
We climbed one of the lookouts made from reclaimed wood and natural posts (the floors came from an old toothpaste factory).
The gentle curves and angles inside the observation tower were visually stunning to explore and photograph. All that beauty didn’t stop us from taking a silly photo with a local dragon.
After our refreshment break we turned our sights to the indoor gardens. While outside was all dull green, browns, and grey, the indoor spaces were a rich riot of colors, shapes, and sizes.
We were greeted by a room covered in orchids of different sizes and shapes.
Small and delicate juxtaposed with large and frilly.
It was hard for me not to take photos of every single specimen I saw.
Moving into the rest of the Main Conservatory we saw Birds of Paradise, at least ten different types of Poinsettias, Amaryllis, and Paper Whites.
I was amazed at the different sizes and colors of the poinsettias. Layering these annuals along the walk made it look more like a painting rather than a collection of plants and flowers.
Speaking of paintings, we visited another building designed by the landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx.
The Cascade Garden, according to the information provided by Longwood, is the only North American garden done by Roberto Burle Marx.
A native of Brazil, Burle Marx took plants found in his homeland and made them to look like brushstrokes of a painting. Incorporating different types of plants alongside varying water features, it was a small but lovely space to visit.
Worth a Return Trip
Longwood Gardens is one of those places that you can and should try to visit at different times of the year. Good gardens do not rely on one season nor do they use the same designs each year. Every visit will be a new discovery for the eyes. And with the variety of landscapes the birds present will change with the season too.
If you live anywhere near Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. Longwood should be a must see place on your bucket list.