Spanning more than 1,100 acres and featuring more than 10,000 species of plants and flowers, Longwood Gardens is the largest botanical garden in the United States. It’s also home to the biggest green wall in the country — measuring 14 feet tall and with a total surface area over 4,000 square feet. It contains a staggering 47,000 plants, and it’s more than double the size of the previous recordholder in Pittsburgh. With many honors to its name and plenty of unique gardens to explore, it’s no wonder Longwood hosts over a million guests every year.
So, what’s the story behind the place? Located outside Philadelphia, the land was originally the home of the native Lenni Lenape tribe and was later purchased by a Quaker farmer at the turn of the 17th century. His descendants are responsible for some of the historic elements still in place today, including a brick farmhouse and a vast arboretum. But it was the 36-year-old entrepreneur Pierre du Pont who bought the farm in 1906 and made Longwood Gardens what it is today.
Apart from Longwood, there are plenty of other gardens in this part of the country. In fact, Philadelphia is known as America’s Garden Capital, largely due to the presence of 30 gardens within a 30-mile radius of the city. Be sure to stop by a few more if time permits.
Global inspirations at Longwood Gardens
By the time he settled in Pennsylvania, Pierre du Pont had traveled the globe, admiring royal gardens and botanical displays as far and wide as South America, England, and Hawaii. He took particular inspiration from French châteaux and Italian country villas as he set to work on his newly acquired property, and those influences are easy to spot today. The Main Fountain Garden, with symmetrical rows of greenery, is modeled after French Baroque gardens like those at Versailles, while the garden’s elegant fountains, with more than 1,700 jets, echo the architecture of Italianate water theaters…