The Italian Water Garden at Longwood Gardens
For more than 115 years, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, has been recognized as one of the world’s most important and beautiful collections of gardens and glasshouses. As he explores its indoor spaces, Karl Gercens, Longwood’s conservatory manager, draws on his quarter century of making and maintaining displays that have dazzled millions of visitors. Learn how the historic Orangery went from utilitarian citrus production to now displaying more than 50,000 pots of blooming flowers and trace the East Conservatory’s history of face-lifts since its 1927 debut.
Gercens also previews the centerpiece of Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience, a transformation of 17 acres of its conservatory and grounds. The 32,000-square-foot West Conservatory, scheduled to open in November, is built on the 19th-century tradition of glasshouses and incorporates new sustainable technologies. The steel-and-glass structure’s asymmetrical peaks will rise from a pool on which the entire building will seem to float, and its interior islands of Mediterranean-inspired gardens will be set amid pools, canals, and fountains in a tapestry-like design.
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