This past weekend I visited the beautiful Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., for its Orchid Extravaganza, an exhibit featuring 5,000 orchids displayed in various forms. Located 40 minutes southwest of Philadelphia, the property consists of 1,077 acres of gardens and woodlands and is known for its Christmas display, A Longwood Christmas. More than 400,000 lights, thousands of poinsettias and several Christmas trees decorate and transform the property into a winter wonderland. We missed the holiday exhibit this year, which ran Nov. 2–Jan. 6, but we thoroughly enjoyed the Orchid Extravaganza.

Pierre S. du Pont, the great-grandson of Eleuthère Irénéé du Pont, who arrived from France in 1800 and created the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company gunpowder works, is credited with developing the property into what it is today. Before Pierre bought the land, the grounds were inhabited by the native Lenni Lenape tribe and were later purchased from William Penn by a Quaker family named Pierce. Pierre bought the property in 1906 so he could preserve the trees, and until the 1930s he worked on creating collections for his botanical gardens. 

One of the first collections Pierre and his wife, Alice, developed were orchids. A visit to the Gardens for the Orchid Extravaganza provides a chance to explore the property’s history and is the perfect cure for the winter blues. Our tour through its four-acre Conservatory offered a taste of spring, with thousands of orchids and additional species of flowers such as tulips, pansies and lilies, and shrubs in bloom. The exhibit this year features a 13-foot-tall arch, a triple-tiered chandelier and hanging orbs covered in beautiful orchids. We also were able to check out historical artifacts from the American Orchid Society, including Longwood grower notebooks, in the Library. We spent two hours walking around the Conservatory, taking in the sights (and wonderful smells!) of the displays. 

Orchid Extravaganza runs through March 24 and is absolutely worth a visit!

— Monique Barrett, advertising and editorial coordinator