Behind the Beauty of Orchid Extravaganza

The Orchid Chandelier at Longwood Gardens

Our aspiration at Longwood Gardens is to create a place where our guests can take a deep breath and leave behind the stresses of our 21st century lives. This winter at Longwood, your escape is Orchid Extravaganza—a world filled with thousands of flowering orchids.

Some may wonder why we would choose to feature these amazing curiosities of nature during the coldest months of the year. The reason is simple: orchids are the rock stars of the plant kingdom. Well, they are at least one of the rock stars. The real reason for displaying orchids this time of year is that most orchid species are in peak flower from early January through late spring. Orchids can be found in most every climate of the world, but they are particularly bountiful in the tropics where the winter season brings rain, and with it lots of orchid flowers.

People have long held a fascination with orchids. During the grand age of plant exploration in the 19th century people collected them with a maddening frenzy, because the exotic flowers were like nothing ever seen before. Even more fascinating was their unique sexuality that titillated the Victorians. It’s all in the history books. Check it out sometime.

Today, people continue to be inspired by the exotic nature of orchids almost to a fault, because their beauty is deceivingly fragile. While it is true some orchids are finicky, many are not. Our Orchid Extravaganza display features orchids like Cymbidium, Oncidium, Phalaenopsis, and Dendrobium that I would encourage the novice gardener to experiment with and try at home. If you want to be daring, I challenge you to immerse yourself into our diverse orchid collection in our Orchid House. You will see an entire range of species, both common and rare, like no other place in the world. The orchids on display in our Orchid House are hand-picked daily from our vast collection behind the scenes.

In 2013—for the first time—we invite you to go beyond our garden gates and think about the beauty that exists on the other side of our works of art. Who are the artists behind everything that we do? This year we invite you to meet and celebrate the real geniuses of Longwood Gardens. Meet our orchid grower Lee in this video that gives you a glimpse of the beauty behind the scenes:

I know that I am probably biased, but I have to say that I think that this year’s Orchid Extravaganza is the very best ever. The breathtaking orchid chandelier suspended in our Exhibition Hall was designed, fabricated, and installed by the professionals of Longwood. I wish we could expose the layers of the orchid chandelier in a cross section that would show the sheer genius of engineering, artistry, and curation that makes Longwood great. The next time you visit, don’t hesitate to ask one of us “how did you do that?” You have my promise that we will take you beyond the garden gate to share the story of Longwood’s beauty.

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Illuminating Gardens

Small Lake – Field of Light at Longwood Gardens

Recently one of our Facebook Fans posted on our page about her concern the peace and serenity of Longwood would be lost as we continue to become more commercial. I find the commercialism comment interesting, because clearly there is a perception among some that our programming is more about the financial bottom line rather than our mission.

Our vision for Longwood is to be a great garden of the world. But what does it mean to be a great garden? We are continually exploring and discussing this concept. For Longwood, great gardens are defined by timeless beauty and an ability to engage all of the senses.

We are excited to present this summer the first major exhibition of British light artist Bruce Munro. Some may view this as a step toward commercialism, but frankly, it’s quite the opposite. The very reason that we would even consider to present something so unexpected at Longwood is to further fulfill our vision to be a great garden of the world. Munro’s imaginative lighting designs will provide a new lens from which to view and explore what defines a great garden.

Every year we present our holiday light display, which everyone loves, but holiday lights are truly about the spirit of the season. They are beautiful, fun, and colorful. Munro’s work at Longwood is softer and far more sublime because there is no heaviness of the hand. Bruce’s illuminations are neither flora nor fauna in representation, but seem to me at least, to be a bridge between the two in our Gardens where they appear to have naturally existed forever.

The commercialization of arts and culture is an on-going debate and topic of conversation inside and outside of the profession. I can recall years ago when it was controversial for gardens like Longwood to have a restaurant or even a gift shop. This is the very reason why our restaurant is tucked deeply away from the Gardens. The thought of the time was to keep food service out of sight and out of mind. Today, we couldn’t imagine being without a dining facility, and having it more front and center would be preferable.

This past holiday season we implemented new timed ticketing practices and we will be doing the same for the Light display this summer. The very reason we made the difficult decision to have timed ticketing was to control crowds and ensure that the Longwood experience was of the highest quality possible.

Our philosophy and promise at Longwood is that we aren’t just selling tickets, but we are providing an experience that is a world apart from all others. The Longwood experience has evolved over time and is shaped by the legacy of our founder, P.S. du Pont. While excellence in horticulture has always been the primary aim of the place, Longwood was designed to entertain, educate, and immerse people into a beautiful living theater.

Commercialization is far from our interests at Longwood. The Longwood experience is authentic and cannot be replicated any other place in the world. I hope you will come to Longwood this summer to see our Gardens in a new light.

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Proud to be Beautiful

Flowering Cherry Trees at Longwood Gardens

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”  (Franklin Lloyd Wright)

People do not talk enough about beauty. Sure, we spend a lot of time analyzing the lives of celebrities, the latest fashions, and our own physical beauty… but these distractions are often unhealthy obsessions and give beauty a bad reputation. We spend too little time fully exploring other forms of beauty—from the natural world to the way we connect to each other. Some have written that gardening for the sake of beauty isn’t widely embraced in the United States because it doesn’t produce a beneficial outcome for mankind. In other words, we Americans will only garden if there is a utilitarian outcome, such as putting food on the table. I believe beauty in and of itself is a worthy goal and does have value in our lives.

I will never forget a lunch meeting I had with a potential donor in my early days as an executive director of a public garden. I knew this person was heavily involved with local hospitals and health-care issues. I also knew that she was a keen gardener and had a beautiful garden at her home. As we were chatting she said to me, “… you know, a garden isn’t necessary… it doesn’t have the same call to action or need as finding a cure for childhood cancers.”  I was flabbergasted. How does one respond to such a statement? I understood what she was saying—that cultivating a beautiful garden does not carry the same urgency as curing disease, but nevertheless her words stung. Her statement speaks volumes about the perception of public gardens and their relevance in our communities. Several years later, I was meeting with another person who coincidentally was significantly involved in children’s healthcare. She told me, “we need this garden in our community, because all of us need to have beauty in our lives to nurture our souls … especially for children and their families facing serious health issues.”

Public gardens around the world are beautiful places that make a huge difference. We demonstrate how communities can grow and sustain themselves responsibly. We are actively addressing climate change by building awareness and implementing tactics to reduce our carbon footprints (such as the 1.5-mega watt solar facility at Longwood or our progressive composting program). Public gardens are the Noah’s Ark for the plant kingdom, actively preserving and conserving threatened ecosystems and their plants all around the world. It’s easy to talk about these very tangible connections to the relevant issues of the day, but at the end of the day, why are we doing it? From my perspective, it’s about the beauty…the beauty of this global garden that we all share a responsibility for stewarding. Beauty is relevant.

Longwood Gardens is about beauty and I make no apologies for that. Our aim is to transport every one of our guests into another world. The beauty we create 365 days every year is a microcosm of the greater global garden. In the weeks and months ahead I hope to elaborate on Longwood’s story of beauty through posts on our blog. I want to share with you how and why we do what we do. I want all of us in the public garden and cultural arts world to talk about and appreciate beauty more openly, because it is a necessity in life.  The great naturalist and conservationist John Muir summarized it best:

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” The Yosemite (1912)

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Longwood Launches New ‘Fireworks’

I am excited to introduce to you a completely new type of Fireworks at Longwood Gardens—Clivia miniata ‘Longwood Fireworks’!

Clivia miniata "Longwood Fireworks'

This is the second introduction from Longwood’s clivia breeding program, which started in 1976. ‘Longwood Fireworks’ boasts a burst of yellow flowers that fills the skies above the foliage. The individual petals of the florets are reflexed and curve backward and the florets are arranged in a perfect sphere, creating an impressive display. The stamens curve and extend beyond the petals. The form and arrangement of the floret give the impression of the petals blowing back and the stamens shooting out to produce an explosion of bloom.

Fireworks & Fountains at Longwood Gardens

Last year, before receiving its name, ‘Longwood Fireworks’ was entered into the North American Clivia Show and won First Place and Best in Division ribbons. Traditionally, the summer skies above Longwood are filled with fireworks that accompany fountain shows and now we have award-winning floral fireworks as well.

You can see Clivia miniata ‘Longwood Fireworks’ in the Conservatory beginning March 17. Last year we released the first plant from our clivia breeding program—Clivia miniata ’Longwood Debutante’, which will also be on display in the Conservatory in March. A limited number of both plants are available for sale in our GardenShop.

Clivia miniata 'Longwood Debutante' in the research greenhouses.

If you are interested in more clivia festivities, don’t miss the North American Clivia Society Show on March 17 & 18 at Longwood Gardens. Clivia enthusiasts from across the country will exhibit their prize plants, and Longwood will be showing plants from our breeding program—including a sneak peek of possible future clivia introductions. Stop by the information table during the show to have your clivia growing questions answered and cast your vote on Saturday for the People’s Choice Award.

If you have a prized clivia at home that will be in bloom on March 17 & 18, please bring it to show off. There will be Novice classes this year for flowering and non-flowering plants, which are open only to those who have never won a Blue Ribbon for a clivia plant. Additionally, you can bring you plant for display in the Enthusiast’s class. In this class, your plant will not be judged, but you can still show it off. I hope to see you and your plant at the Clivia Show!

The 2011 North American Clivia Show at Longwood Gardens

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Longwood Lemur Salad

A wide-eyed safiaka (Photo from Tammy Schmidt, Philadelphia Zoo)

Lemurs at the Philadelphia Zoo, like you, need vegetables in their diet every day to keep them healthy and happy.  In the case of the Lemur Propithecus coquereli or Coquerel’s sifaka, they enjoy a specific kind of leafy green harvested from winged sumac (Rhus copallinum).

Though the lemur is native to the far away island of Madagascar, the leaves of a Rhus copallinum, which is a Pennsylvania native, can provide the specific nutrients required by the sifaka.

Typically, the zoo can grow and collect a sufficient amount of sumac locally. Last year, due in part to the extremely wet weather conditions, there was a shortage of usable plant material available, so the zoo contacted Longwood in hopes that we would have some plants on property.  (Now where do people get the idea that we have plants kicking around here?)

Fortunately, there is a large stand of winged sumac in Longwood’s research nursery area that we were happy to share! The zookeepers were ecstatic when they saw the sizable thicket of Rhus copallina standing about 20 feet tall by 30 feet wide. The thicket would be a great vacation spot for the sifaka if they tire of city life. They could find refuge in the branches and eat until their heart’s content.

A lemur hanging out in a tree--probably waiting for a Rhus snack (Photo from Tammy Schmidt, Philadelphia Zoo)

A baby lemur with mom, enjoying a Rhus snack (Photo from Tammy Schmidt, Philadelphia Zoo)

The keepers harvested branches and leaves of the plant and took the material back to the zoo for processing and freezing. The leaves will be rationed out over the winter.

Plant material fed to the zoo animals is called “browse.” The zoo actually has a browse growing area that produces food for the animals. About a decade ago, there was another shortage of Rhus copallina at the zoo, and the Zookeepers harvested browse at Longwood back then as well.

Rhus copallina is native to the eastern half of the United States, and is known as the winged sumac or shiny sumac. There are distinctive “wings” on the leaf stem, and the leaves are very glossy and turn a brilliant red in the fall.The particular plant in Longwood’s research nursery was collected in New Jersey. In addition to the stand of plant material that is located in the research nursery, the plant can also be found in Longwood’s perimeter areas.

The character Zoboomafoo from the popular children’s series of the same name is actually a Coquerel’s sifaka. In real life, the animal is ADORABLE with big eyes in a fuzzy head and long legs. They spend most of the time in trees, but when they do travel across the ground they hop on their long legs as if they are dancing. (You can see some fun videos of this on You Tube.) Sifakas are a species of lemur, which belong to a suborder of primates called prosimi. I am told that they should be referred to as a prosimian and not a “monkey” nor “ape.” Whatever we call them, they are adorable and Longwood was happy to help supply a daily salad for them!

Lemur Love (Photo by Desiree Haneman)

A lemur kicking back, showing off its long legs (Photo by Desiree Haneman, Philadelphia Zoo)

A mother and baby lemur (Photo by Desiree Haneman, Philadelphia Zoo)

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