The Outdoor Gardens at Longwood

9/8/13

one of many outdoor gardens

     Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the site of the former home of the du Ponts, has 1,077 acres of outdoor gardens.  Not only are there many different gardens, but also lakes, waterfalls and magnificent fountains.  I took the following photos on my recent visit there.

hardy begonias and coleus

     This path leads to the flower garden walk.  The flower garden walk has several gardens each displaying flowers of one color.

the red garden

the orange garden

the yellow garden

    

There are many small, enclosed gardens.

one of the lakes in the gardens

The topiary garden figures are all clipped evergreens.

the water lily pool

There are several experimental/trial gardens.

Main Fountain garden

     Several water gardens dot the landscape.  The Main Fountain Garden shoots 10,000 gallons of water a minute, and nighttime shows illuminate the water in every imaginable color.

Italian Water Garden

     The Italian Water Garden was my favorite.  It is based on the Villa Gambria near Florence, Italy.

student exhibition gardens

     Longwood has great influence on American horticulture through its educational programs.  For the past thirty years, as many as 5,000 students have attended classes for amateur and professional gardeners and nurserymen.  In addition, since 1958, students from all over the world have participated in one or more of the seven intensive programs from internships to a two-year professional gardener training program to a master's degree in public horticulture administration.

Longwood Gardens - The Conservatory

9/2/13

main conservatory entrance 

     I recently visited Longwood Gardens in  Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.  It is the former home of Pierre du Pont, great-grandson of E. I. du Pont, who founded the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company.  There are 1,077 acres of outdoor gardens, and a 4.5-acre conservatory.

     In this post I would like to share some photos of the plants growing in the conservatory.  Longwood's conservatory is one of the world's great greenhouse structures.  It has 20 indoor gardens and 5,500 types of plants.  In addition to the original, main conservatory area, there is an east conservatory complex and a west conservatory complex.

coleus

     The main conservatory was originally used for growing citrus fruits.  Today it features an ever-changing display of flowers and foliage that change with the seasons.  There were many plantings of coleus, creeping fig, and hibiscus when I was there.

acacia walk

      The acacia walk leads into the west conservatory.  The west conservatory houses a desert and dry landscape area, an orchid house, a rose house, a banana room, a tropical garden, a palm house, a fern passage and a bonsai area.

desert landscape

orchid room

banana room

tropical garden

 
     The east conservatory has permanent plantings of Mediterranean and sub-tropical flora, a garden walk that contains plants for all seasons, a ballroom with a pipe organ, a camellia room, and a green wall area of ferns.

garden walk

fountain and pool on garden walk

green wall of ferns

     Also in the conservatory is a research and production area.  The production area produces plants year round under all conditions.  The research team finds, obtains and conducts plant trials of 500 to 1,000 new plants each year, and shares plants and research nationally and internationally through distributions, publications, presentations, and workshops.  My impression when I left the conservatory besides its stunning surprises and beauty, was that it seemed a lot larger than 4.5 acres.    

Zinnias and More

8/19/13

zinnias

     The zinnias I planted from seed have finally started blooming!  I am so glad I planted them on June 2, even though it was a late planting.

cosmos

     The cosmos in the back yard that I planted at the same time as the zinnias are coming along.  One bud is just appearing on the tallest stem.

hardy begonias

Japanese anemones

     Also in the back yard garden, my fall flowers, hardy begonias and Japanese anemones have started blooming.

lavender

     The lavender is in full bloom in the side garden.

marigolds

     The bees just love the marigolds.

reseeded marigolds

     When I cut some of the spent blooms off the marigolds, I threw some of them on the ground in the empty spaces in the garden.  The seeds took root and now more marigold plants are coming up.

tiger swallowtail

spicebush swallowtail

     In the last two weeks I have noticed more butterflies in the garden.  We have had such cloudy, cool, fall-like weather in the last week.  Temperatures did not get out of the 70's during the day, and at night went down in the 50's.  I want summer back for a few more weeks.

Around the Yard

8/13/13

crape myrtle

    
      The crape myrtle tree in the side yard is full of blooms.  I am not a fan of crape myrtles, and I've never had one in any of my yards until we moved here.  But I must admit this tree is beautiful.













  

milkweed plants

     The milkweed Tussock caterpillars are gone from the milkweed plants.  The caterpillars ate lots of leaves on some of the plants.  Now all that's left are the follicles.  When the follicles ripen, they will split open.  Inside will be brown seeds with white, silky, filament-like hairs called coma, which make it easy for seeds to be blown around by the wind.

arbor over gate

     My husband finally finished building the arbor top over the gate into the backyard.  I plan on getting a Carolina jessamine vine to plant next to the gate in hopes that it will grow along the fence and over the arbor.

deck planter flowers

     The diascia that was in this deck railing planter was not doing well, so I replaced it with a red geranium and two ornamental pepper plants.

     We have had so much rain and cloudy weather here.  It is downright depressing.  We have not had a rain-free weekend since Father's Day.  Mushrooms, fungus and other weird things are growing all over the yard.  These are photos of the two I found most interesting.

Creatures Big and Small

8/1/13

side yard garden

    
     The side yard garden is starting to fill in finally with lots of blooms.  I've noticed lots of butterflies, dragonflies and bees visiting lately.
They flit from flower to flower so quickly, it was difficult to get photos of them.

     I did manage to take photos of a few of them and some other animals around the yard.

calico pennant dragonfly

      I don't know a lot about dragonflies, butterflies and moths.  Until I went on the internet and found similar photos, I didn't know the name of this dragonfly.  I don't know the names of the lepidoptera in the two following photos.  Do you?

moth?

 

butterfly

milkweed tussock caterpillar

      I was hoping I would see monarch caterpillars on the milkweed plants, since I've read they feed exclusively on milkweed.  But no.  An internet search identifies these as the milkweed tussock caterpillars.

deer running across the backyard

brave squirrel

     I took this photo through the sliding glass door that goes out to the back patio and back yard.  This squirrel  regularly visits the pots I have on the deck here.  I am guessing he is lured by the smell of the fish emulsion fertilizer I use on the plants occasionally.

zinnia seedlings

     I started this blog post about a week and a half ago, but life gets in the way sometimes.  So these zinnia seedlings are actually bigger than this photo shows.  Although I planted these only five weeks ago, they are almost ready to bloom.  I am so excited that I will have lots of beautiful zinnias (one of my favorite flowers) that I wanted to share their progress. 

New Blooms

7/13/13
    

Asiatic lily

    In one of my earlier blog posts I wrote about three Asiatic lilies that suddenly appeared at the side of the house.  Since they were here when we moved in, I had no idea what color they would be.  I transplanted them to the backyard garden, because my husband wanted to put the trash cans there on the side of the house where they were growing.

lilies amid the hostas

     Here are the three lilies planted among the hostas in the backyard garden.  They finally bloomed about a week ago.  Their fragrance is heavenly.

butterfly bush

     This is a photo of a little slip of a butterfly bush I bought at a garden club plant sale this past spring.  It was planted in the side garden in May.

butterfly bush

 
     Here is the butterfly bush now with its first bloom.

glossy abelia

 

 

     This week the first bloom appeared on the glossy abelia shrub planted in the side garden.

crepe myrtle

     The crepe myrtle tree also had its first bloom this week.

zinnia seedlings

     Although I bought zinnia plants in May for the side garden to quickly fill up all the empty space, I really like to grow them from seed.  After reading Adrian Higgins garden column in the Washington Post two weeks ago where he said it wasn't too late to plant zinnia seeds, I immediately went out and bought some and planted two rows of them.  This is a photo of the seedlings after two weeks of planting. 

cosmos seedlings

 

     When I bought the zinnia seeds I also bought some cosmos seeds.  I always like to have cosmos somewhere in the garden, and I hadn't gotten around to planting any cosmos seeds this spring.  I thought, "Well, if I'm going to plant zinnia seeds I might as well plant cosmos seeds too".  I planted two rows of the cosmos seeds in the backyard garden.

     We've had another week of rain here.  It has rained every day since July 6th, and I'm really fed up with the weather.  Some of my plants have mildew, and there's all sorts of fungi growing in the yard.  I hope we get the hot, sunny weather that's forecasted for this week.  Maybe it will dry everyhing up, and the yard won't be so squishy anymore.

The Electric Garden

7/2/13

Scotch broom

      At a far front corner of the yard there are plantings I call my electric garden.  These plants were here when we moved in, and they surround a large electrical box.

     This is the garden in mid-May.  Two red Scotch broom shrubs bloom at the  back corners of the electrical box.  Scotch broom is considered invasive in some states, particularly out west.

front of  box

     At the front of the box in mid-May daisies and milkweed are starting to grow.

mid-June

     In mid-June the Scotch broom is done blooming, and the daisies and milkweed are starting to blossom.
    

July

     Now in July, the daisies and milkweed are in fulll bloom.

milkweed blossom

     Here is a close-up of a milkweed blossom.  The bees love it.

daisies

     The daisies seem so bright and cheerful.  I think I will cut some and bring them into the house.  We need some cheering up here.  It has been raining everyday for almost two weeks.  We have had ten inches of rain in June.  I need some sun!