Waterlilies in the daylight.

Seeing the waterlilies in the daylight was one of the more interesting and unexpected moments of our trip to Longwood Gardens. Reason being - I didn’t expect so many of them to be in bloom that were not at dusk. The amount of beautiful lily blooms was absolutely incredible!

The House + Museum

The house + museum is always such a nice escape from the outside - in that you can really start to see the vision and plan for the space. From the central room with glass roof to the story of the museum and the history of the gardens. I especially loved seeing the history of the italian gardens.

The Idea Garden and Dahlias

The MOST unexpected part of this trip was the idea garden. We almost skipped it. WHY? Because we didn’t realize what an “idea” garden theme meant. So what does it mean you ask? It’s a place to see and test out garden ideas on a smaller scale. Of course we thought it was more of like a “contemplative” garden or a thought garden, so we thought “skippable” - lesson learned! I won’t skip a part of a garden in the future just in case.

So the ideas and notes I took during this part? All the plants. What I loved were the perennial and some annual flowers/foliage that were used that I hadn’t ever seen a label on before. So this was my chance to write down many of the plants I wanted to remember.

Some of those included:

Bronze Fennel - gorgeous and so tall
Florest’s Dill
Greater Burnet
Spotted Bee Balm

All of these have been noted for future reference when I get to plant my own garden. You can probably see why I really want to own a lot of land - I’d love to cultivate a true meadow border with a lot of the taller varieties of native plants.

The Main Fountain

The main fountain wasn’t as magical as it was at night, but it sure was still a five star attraction. This was a new addition to Longwood since I last visited, and the size really benefits the experience. Because it’s so large, you really find yourself almost alone while walking along it’s edge. The little hidden rooms of fountains was a lovely touch, and honestly if you told someone you had been in Italy or Spain and took these photos they would barely bat an eye. It was in such stark contrast to the Italian Fountain garden on the other side of Longwood and just as beautiful.

View of the Meadow from the Lawn

The view of the meadow from the “Lawn” was spectacular. The height and placement of this vista is just situated in a way you can sit in a quiet location on the grounds, and look out and not see other humans - when in reality there are hundreds if not more people within the grounds of Longwood. A perfect place to stop and just think. If there had been a beer cart nearby (oh did I mention there are beer/wine carts throughout the outdoor gardens?) I would have had a nice cold beer and honestly been in heaven.

I hope you enjoyed our tour of Longwood through our eyes. This two day tour was so wonderful, I am glad we were able to see a few things at different hours - allowing the night lilies and the day lilies to shine, for the meadow to be walked in the late afternoon sun, dinner with live music as well as a full day enjoying the sunshine outside and indoor gardens on our second day. Check out the previous posts for our full Longwood 2018 Trip.

Journal