Gardens take time. A beautiful garden conceals hours of planning and labor, backbreaking work preparing the soil and plants, and patient maintenance. Any gardener will tell you that there’s no such thing as an instant garden.
It’s hard to keep that reality in mind when entering the East Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, completed in 2005. This spectacular half-acre indoor garden offers visitors a stunning collection of plants, design, and ingenuity. The open vista down the center of the Conservatory, combined with dramatic black-dyed ponds and waterfalls, makes visitors feel as though they’ve stepped into a magical scene.
But as the Longwood Gardens staff and board know, magic had nothing to do with the creation of this exquisite garden. To the contrary—the journey to the opening of the East Conservatory took 20 years.
Photo via Flickr courtesy of Amber325.
The space now occupied by the East Conservatory was originally the site of the Azalea House. Pierre S. du Pont, the founder of Longwood Gardens, adored azaleas, and wanted a facility to feature them. Constructed in 1926, the Azalea House “resembled a grand exposition hall with two rows of structural columns and three sections of ridge-and-furrow roof,” according to Nathan Hayward III, Chairman of the Longwood Gardens Board of Trustees.
However, by 1967 the Azalea House needed multiple repairs. Longwood replaced the existing roof and columns with a free-span lamella arch roof. This construction, though aesthetically pleasing, had poor air circulation, which limited the types of plants that could be grown there.
Longwood’s Director, Fred Roberts, began discussing a redesign of the old Azalea House in 1985. But it was not until 1997 that Longwood partnered with the celebrated English landscape architect Sir Peter Shepheard. He proposed a new single-span roof with a tall center peak. Then, in 2001, Tres Fromme, Longwood’s planning and design leader, was appointed lead designer for the interior and entry pavilion.
Photo via Flickr courtesy of Katybeck.
Renovations to the East Conservatory began in January 2003. The challenge of constructing the building was, according to Sharon Loving, Longwood’s Horticulture Department Head, to avoid the feeling that one is entering a glass box. Selecting plants that blend in to the corners and columns, creating the illusion of box-lessness, softened the physical confines of the Conservatory.
Also, greenhouses can easily become busy and full, with plants overflowing and crowding each other. This creates a feeling of claustrophobia, the opposite impact of the intimate and distinctive garden spaces that the Conservatory’s designers wanted. Therefore, Fromme planned open spaces where “the eye can rest,” says Loving.
Immediately upon entering, visitors encounter a large water feature: an oval basin. Two large fountains, specially designed and cast in bronze, grace the pool. Each one weighs 250 pounds. The water features of the Conservatory are vital, says Loving, “because du Pont loved and used water extensively in his own gardens.”
The open vista draws visitors’ eyes to the opposite end of the Conservatory, where a large waterfall (14 feet across, 5 feet deep) quietly cascades to a dark pool. When the eye drifts upwards to the stainless steel arching tresses, which range in height from 27 feet to 35 feet, visitors will appreciate the airy and gracious sense of the space.
One doesn’t feel as though the Conservatory is a large box; instead, Tres Fromme and his design team used various tricks to break the space into intimate settings, each possessing its own distinct character. There are miniature gardens within the larger landscape. For example, the Court of Bamboo is separated from the surrounding space by two hedgerows that reach 12 to 14 feet, some of the tallest hedges growing under glass in the world. Black bamboo reaches almost to the ceiling, and visitors can sit on a granite wall for contemplation.
Across the big pond, a basin made from rare Brazilian blue granite draws the eye in the Court of Palms. At the opposite end of the Conservatory from the main entrance, the Patio of Oranges is filled with a modular arrangement of luscious citrus trees; each tree grows in an elegant custom-cast stone planter. Each container, with tree, weighs 2,000 pounds, but the planters can be moved to clear space for performing arts, educational, and social events.
Fromme and his team toured the world doing research and gathering ideas for the Conservatory. They drew largely on Moorish, French, and Modernist precedents to create the visually stimulating result. But the large scale didn’t get all the attention. Subtle touches and one-of-a-kind details grace every corner of the Conservatory.
One time-consuming special feature of the new garden is the stainless steel trellises that adorn the south and north walkways. Designed by Fromme and made by Longwood craftsman, each one took 300 man-hours to create. Bronze and mica lanterns handcrafted in New York illuminate the interior.
Fromme incorporated a triangle motif into many of the designs in the Conservatory, from the orange containers to the window frames. Even the drain grates are custom-made.
Visitors to the Conservatory can see plants growing side by side that would never coexist in the wild. Permanent year-round blooming plants balance the seasonal additions added by Longwood’s horticulturalists and tended by more than 350 gardeners.
Among the plants in the Conservatory: 30-foot tall black bamboo, a 35-foot tall Queen Palm, grand Mexican Fan palms with orange trunks, exotic Flame Trees and a nearly 100-year-old Sago palm (now extinct in the wild). In all, Longwood’s East Conservatory features nearly 140 different types of sub-tropical and Mediterranean plants.
The technology required to support such varied plant life is vast and high-tech. The Conservatory is divided into 17 different temperature zones, and a labyrinth of tunnels underneath the building allows airflow into the garden during the summer months. The plants are kept warm at night—when the automatic thermostat reduces the temperature to 45 degrees Fahrenheit—by root-zone heating. This system has a flow of 160-degree water flowing through pipes that keeps the plants’ roots warm.
The dramatic and serene beauty of this stunning building belies the years and effort put into the planning, construction, and maintenance of this superb garden. It took endless hours, large amounts of money, and a massive construction effort to bring Longwood’s East Conservatory into existence. And the visitors are the ones who get to enjoy the wonder of the garden and all the hidden delights it holds.
Image courtesy of Longwood Gardens.
Hours & Admission
Longwood opens at 9 am every day of the year. Admission is: $16 for adults; $6 (age 5-18 or anyone with valid student ID); free for 4 and under. Discounted rates are extended to groups of 15 or more paying guests.
The Chrysanthemum Festival starts October 19, and Christmas is another great time to visit Longwood, with thousands of twinkling lights and festive music.
Longwood is on US Route 1 near Kennett Square, PA, 30 miles west of Philadelphia. For information, visit www.longwoodgardens.org.
