KENNETT SQUARE PA – Longwood Gardens, which promotes itself as “America’s greatest center for horticultural display,” spent an estimated $250 million to transform 17 acres of its grounds as “a new garden experience” for its visitors. It unveiled the project last November and, if guest reactions are any gauge, seems to have largely succeeded.
Travels With The Post has visited Longwood, 35 miles south of Pottstown, several times since construction began and ended. Its most recent “Post Road Trip” occurred in early June 2025. The Post created a 5-1/2-minute video (at top) of its most recent visit. Click the link above to watch it, or see it at the Travels With The Post YouTube channel.
Central to the effort, titled as “Longwood Reimagined,” was construction of its towering West Conservatory. The 32,000-square-foot house of glass shows off what Longwood describes as “an immersive Mediterranean Garden featuring planted islands, pools, canals, and low fountains.”
The West Conservatory also emphasizes sustainability. It relies on a geothermal heating and cooling system. There’s a constant re-circulation of fresh air through massive tubes buried on the south slopes of the grounds.
As it does in its East and Main conservatories, Longwood also attempts to soothe West building visitors with a seasonally changing display of green and flowering plants. Its exhibits reflect “six global Mediterranean ecozones” across three islands offering 60 species of plants, set on an expansive sheet of water.
More That’s New, and A Returning Favorite
With “Longwood Reimagined,” the center also has:
- Relocated, preserved, and reconstructed the Cascade Garden, designed by the late Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx and first opened in 1992. A new 3,800-square-foot glasshouse has been created for the garden, which earlier was installed in the Main Conservatory. The new space recreates the designer’s rock walls, cascading waterfalls, clear pools, and “a dense ensemble of plants;”
- Refreshed its Waterlily Court, first opened in 1957 and renovated in 1989, with a new arcade to frame the space. It unites a collection of tropical gardens that bridges both the historic and contemporary gardens. It also serves as a public gathering place that seems to prompt low-voiced conversations among adults, and a sense of fascination among kids; and
- Again enhanced its annual crowd favorite, water shows within Longwood’s huge Fountain Garden. The musical displays occur at set times during daily operations, and attract hundreds of people. They are augmented on designated holidays and other occasions with night-time strobes and fireworks. Its new Fountain Fest Weekends feature water performances combined with the music of popular artists like Taylor Swift, The Beatles, and ABBA.
What to Know If You Go
Wealthy industrialist Pierre S. du Pont in 1906 purchased a small farm near Kennett Square to save a collection of historic trees from being sold for lumber. Over nearly 120 years Longwood Gardens evolved to welcome 1.6 million guests annually. It encompasses roughly 1,100 acres of gardens, woodlands, meadows, fountains, a 10,010-pipe organ, and grand conservatories.
Planning a trip, or hope to? Longwood Gardens is open daily during holiday seasons, and every day except Tuesday during the rest of the year. Members and their guests are admitted free (depending on the type of membership held). For frequent visitors, the price of a membership can represent a significant savings on admission costs.
For occasional visitors, admission is ticketed per person. During busy periods visitors may be required to schedule an entrance time that affects the start, but not the length, of a stay. Picnic areas and restaurants are available on the grounds.
The center is fully accessible, with mostly level paths, and is elevator-equipped to reach any upper levels.
Photos and video by Travels With The Post
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