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With Christmas just a few days away, we wanted to gift you, our Members, with a festive new edition of Longwood from Home. This week, gather round for heartwarming virtual Organ Sing-Alongs, try a new seasonal word search, see our display from a new angle with drone fly-overs, and more! We wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season.
Please note: Due to recent state regulations, a number of our indoor spaces are closed, including the Conservatory, Peirce-du Pont House, Webb Farmhouse, Pumphouse, Canopy Cathedral Treehouse, and Birdhouse Treehouse. The GardenShop and Visitor Center remain open at limited capacity. Our spectacular outdoor display, including 500,000 lights, dancing fountains, fire pits, and our Garden Railway, continues. Stay updated on current visiting guidelines on our website.
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Even though our Conservatory is currently closed, we’re committed to sharing with you all of the beauty of A Longwood Christmas. Take flight with these high-flying tours of this year’s holiday display and see the display from a new angle. Soar through our Conservatory swathed in reds, golds, and greens with our Conservatory fly-through, and then journey outside amid our twinkling lights with our outdoor drone tour.
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Virtual Organ Sing-Alongs
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Gathering in the Ballroom to sing carols is a seasonal highlight and Member favorite. As we’re unable to gather this year for our traditional Organ Sing-Alongs, we wanted to bring festive favorites, played on The Longwood Organ and complete with on-screen lyrics, directly to you at home.
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Want even more Longwood delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to Our Gardens Your Home and stay connected with us through stunning imagery and video, expert horticulture tips, performing arts features, family activities, and more … all delivered right to you on a weekly basis. Looking for a taste of what Our Gardens Your Home is all about? Check out one of our latest videos on creating your own holiday centerpiece, led by floral design instructor Darcie Garcia.
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Challenge yourself to this A Longwood Christmas-inspired word search. Find all the words in the list … remember, they can be horizontal, vertical, or even backwards!
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Delve into Gardens History
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To help grow the Longwood plant collection, our Horticulture team travels across the globe in seek of new plant specimens to trial in our garden setting. Our plant exploration program, which began in the 1950s, has resulted in more than 60 global trips to areas such as Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Japan, and China. When on an expedition, our team spends evenings cataloging their finds and cleaning the seeds for transport back to the States. Once the new specimens or seeds arrive at Longwood, our researchers put them into trial in our greenhouses, nursery, or in our Trial Garden. On average, we trial around 500 new plants every year to see what is suitable for display. This is one of the most exciting ways that we expand our collections!
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Members are invited to join Longwood staff on January 21 at 12 pm for a virtual introduction to our Gardens and discover all your Membership has to offer. Learn more about your Member benefits, visiting tips, and the history of Longwood. Afterward, enjoy a fun virtual Gardens activity!
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Our Gardens have been the backdrop for so many of your family traditions, photo shoots, engagements, and so much more. Please share your favorite holiday moments from our Gardens. Submit them through our #LongwoodLove initiative on our website or use #LongwoodLove when posting online.
This week, delight in the story shared by Member Elizabeth S. and her father Chris S.:
Longwood became such an important part of our family holiday celebration. As I’ve grown and moved away from Pennsylvania, I’ve always looked for a place that could make me feel the way Longwood did for all those years. It was the drive from our home, all three siblings in the backseat together. It was the cold walk from the entrance to the Conservatory, and that first feeling of warmth when you opened the doors. It was the pressure we put on ourselves knowing that the picture we took that day, in those three chairs, would represent us for the entire year. After the picture we’d get some hot chocolate and a huge chocolate chip cookie. It didn’t feel like Christmas until the visit to Longwood. ~Elizabeth H.
It really wasn't Christmas until it was Longwood. After weeks of holiday preparation and expectation, the Big Night finally arrived. After early church, we made our annual visit to the grounds and of course to the Organ sing-a-long. We then went to The Chairs. The Chairs were three chairs in the Conservatory that the three kids would sit in each year to have their Christmas Eve picture snapped. At first, there were two kids, then three. And soon, too soon, they weren't toddlers anymore, but elementary schoolers, then middle school, high school, and before you know it, they're coming home from college. And they always found their way to those three chairs, on the same night, for almost thirty years. Life is a lot of events and some of that stuff separates us from those we love. And you try to smile at the empty seat for the one that couldn't, after three decades, be there. Our Longwood tradition was a long and wonderful one; we had great times, and even have the pictures to prove it. Thanks, Longwood. ~Chris S.
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