Longwood’s October Glories

Last weekend I was at the Chanticleer Master Garden Photography Workshop in Wayne, PA.  On my way there, I spent a little time at Longwood Gardens. In early October, it’s a bit soon for mums to be in peak form in the Conservatories, but I explored the Children’s Garden and found a couple of other shots worth sharing.

Longwood’s renowned Chrysanthemum Festival doesn’t start until November 1st (check out this amazing YouTube video about how a “Thousand Bloom” plant is produced. Yoko Awakara, the artist at Longwood in charge of this undertaking, was in my photography class at Chanticleer this year. She could be heard muttering, “I should be at Longwood . . .”) Nonetheless, there were chrysanthemums in the Conservatories,

Orange mums and grasses

Solidago in a Conservatory container, with a haze of chrysanthemums and grasses behind.

 

as well as outdoors.

 

Pink mums will soon bloom, setting off other annuals in the Flower Garden Walk.

I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the spaces looked, even in the in-between season of not-quite-true-fall that early October represents. Longwood is always full of well-composed scenes for the visitor and photographer, like those above, and these sights in the central Conservatory area.

A group of chairs await visitors in the Conservatory.

More solidago, this time in a container with a tiered design.

To be honest, while I love photographing scenes like these, it was in the Children’s Garden in the Conservatory that I had the most fun. I’ll leave you with two images of innovative ways water features have been worked into what is a very compact space, to delight visitors young and old.

Near the entrance to the Children's Garden, jets of water dart across a mural at intervals.

A pair of sculptured birds "blow bubbles" in this fountain every thirty or forty seconds.

Note: This weekend, Longwood is opening its new East Conservatory Plaza and the world’s “largest green wall.” For more information, check out Jane Berger’s post on Garden Design Online. Yet another reason to plan a visit there!

Seasons’ Greetings from Longwood

Winterberries and cranes in a central fountain in one of the Longwood Conservatories

Most avid gardeners on the East Coast know Longwood Gardens, near Philadelphia. Even in the winter, it’s well worth a trip. Two years ago, in early December, my camera club planned a field trip to photograph in the Conservatories, and I went along.

At this time of year, tripods are allowed in the Conservatory areas only in the mornings, so we arrived at 9 am sharp when the doors opened.

Holiday plantings in the Conservatories are on a large scale for maximum impact.

Lighting in these areas is tricky. If the sun is out you can get gorgeous shadows made by the columns and the plantings, but the window areas blow out. If it’s overcast, the lighting is flat but you have fewer problems with shadows and highlights.

Winterberry shrub with poinsettias and decorated trees in the Conservatory at Longwood

We had both kinds of light, but my best images turned out to be those I took when the sky was overcast.

Even the Christmas trees at Longwood are full of surprises - like yarrow as an ornament.

Outside of the main Conservatory halls, there were smaller vistas and views to take in and capture – like the Christmas tree ornaments above. So in the spirit of the holidays, here are some of my best images from that trip. If you haven’t been to Longwood, plan a road trip soon.