An unapologetic plant geek shares advice and opinions on gardening, the contrived and the natural landscape, as well as occasional topics from the other side of the gate.

March 12, 2017

I Love Longwood, Again

     In conjunction with attending last October's Perennial Plant Conference, two coworkers and I were able to visit Chanticleer, and Longwood Gardens - twice. On the night before the conference we went to see Longwood's Nightscape, which is a state of the art combination of original music, color, animation, and movement - all projected onto the garden's plants. You will have to take my word for how spectacular it was, as I was unable to capture any of the video due to exhausted batteries. It was worth every penny of the $27 price of admission. Two days later on the way back to Virginia, we stopped by again for a more traditional visit; neither of my coworkers had ever seen Longwood in the daylight. I was uncharacteristically conservative with my photography, but what follows is some of what we saw.

     Helenium
Longwood Helenium

     Gomphrena, maybe 'Fireworks'
Longwood Flower Garden Walk Gomphrena

      Hibiscus 'Fith Dimension'
Longwood Hibiscus 'Fifth Dimension'

     Sarracenia
Longwood Sarracenia (3)

     The next three photos were taken in Longwood's Theatre Garden.
Longwood Near Open Air Theater (3)

Longwood Near Open Air Theater (2)

Longwood Near Open Air Theater (1)

     I took this photo in their Idea Garden, and I got the idea that I really like this combination of colors. 
Longwood Idea Garden (2)

     Being fall, garden mums had a huge presence in the plantings along their Flower Garden Walk, which is always a must-see for me. I had to fight the urge to run jump into these great big bosomy pink mums.
Longwood Flower Garden Walk (1)

Longwood Flower Garden Walk (2)

     I have never been a fan of rainbow color schemes in garden design. Nonetheless, I had a hard time pulling myself from the a large display of assorted Dahlia.
Longwood Dahlias (1)

Longwood Dahlias (4)

Longwood Dahlias (2)

Longwood Dahlias (3)

Danette, Les, and Joelle at Longwood (1)


     Unrelated to Longwood, there is about a week left for bloggers to enter my annual Winter Walk-Off. Click here for details.

7 comments:

  1. It's on the bucket list! Those Dahlias with bumbles are luscious. Thanks: I needed this little taste of summer today!

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    1. If you are headed to the Fling, Longwood (and Chanticleer) are relatively close, but you would probably want a day for each.

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  2. It would be interesting to see how you implement that color combination you liked so much in the botanical garden's Spring displays. I wish you didn't fight the urge to jump into the pink mums. It would have made a great photo for this post!

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    Replies
    1. It would have been great fun, but at some point I know I want to be able to see Longwood again, and not be put on their do-not-enter list.

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  3. Oh Les, my heart aches for spring. Not calendar spring but REAL spring. Sigh ...

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  4. I love how your photos capture light as much as the blooms. What a marvelous garden to visit!

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  5. The fifth dimension hibiscus is spectacular!

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