Venue
In 1906, industrialist Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954) purchased a small farm near Kennett Square, PA, to save a collection of historic trees from being sold for lumber. Today, our Gardens are one of the world’s great horticultural displays, welcoming 1.6 million guests annually and encompassing 1,100 acres of dazzling gardens, woodlands, meadows, fountains, a 10,010-pipe Aeolian organ, and grand conservatories. Expanding on our commitment to conservation, in 2024 we acquired the 505-acre Longwood at Granogue, a cultural landscape in nearby Wilmington, Delaware. Longwood Gardens is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont, bringing joy and inspiration to everyone through the beauty of nature, conservation, and learning. Open daily, we are one of more than 30 gardens in the Philadelphia region known as America’s Garden Capital.
Longwood Reimagined
Our most ambitious expansion, reimagination, and preservation of our Conservatory District and surrounding landscape in a century, Longwood Reimagined has been years in the making. For 118 years, we have harmoniously blended art and science to create a horticulture experience of unparalleled splendor—and we’ve taken this many steps farther with the realization of Longwood Reimagined. The successful completion and opening in the fall of 2024 continues our legacy of innovation and advances our commitment to garden design, architecture, and preservation.
For more than a century, Longwood has been one of the world’s leading patrons of garden and landscape design, collecting gardens and landscapes from some of the finest landscape architects of the 20th and 21st centuries—including Jonathan Alderson, Roberto Burle Marx, Thomas Church, Isabelle Greene, Sir Peter Shepheard, Gary Smith, and Kim Wilkie, to name just a few. The preservation and renewal of our Conservatory District propels forward that legacy.
When it comes to architecture, Longwood is the proud steward of one of the world’s most important collections of glasshouses. Our two new 21st century glasshouses—the West Conservatory and the Cascade Garden—which serve as the capstone of 100 years of innovation in greenhouse design at Longwood—are seamlessly integrated into the historic whole.
We have made history by relocating, reconstructing, and preserving the Cascade Garden—the only intact design in North America by renowned landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. A historic garden has never been moved as a whole and preserved in this way, and we are honored to have worked with a team of scholars, landscape architects, preservation experts, and the Burle Marx Landscape Design Studio to do so. We are thrilled to welcome back the Cascade Garden, now in a new glasshouse that’s timeless in its simplicity but designed to allow Burle Marx's vision to thrive.
Inspired by an equatorial coastal rainforest, the Cascade Garden is a rare work of landscape art that gathers all the iconic elements of a Burle Marx design, reflecting his love of the natural world and the beauty of Brazil's native flora and landscapes. Upon entering this custom-built, stand-alone jewel box, a profusion of tropical plants bursts forth, densely filling the space from every direction. Along a curving path, find dozens of species of plants, primarily from the bromeliad (Bromeliaceae) and aroid (Araceae) families; the sound and sight of waterfalls; thoughtfully placed stone; epiphytic plants covering the columns and walls; and many more elements that lend to this garden’s immersive environment.
