A Boring November

Must. make. post….

For a brief moment in time I had fallen under the impression that my autumn-hating self had made a turn for the better, and that the new me could embrace falling temperatures and a dialing back of the gardening year, but the last few weeks have proven that impression to be false. I’m apathetic and bored with the garden, bored with the to-do list, and bored with the plants. Even the onset of the Holiday season hasn’t snapped me out of it, although the annual visit to Longwood Gardens did at least motivate me to pull out the Christmas decorations and get a little into the mood here.

A ‘retro’ themed Longwood Gardens was as festive as ever with holiday song, lights, and decorations galore.

As usual it was a fun trip, and we had a groundbreaking addition this year as the boy wanted to take his girlfriend along for the visit. She was a delight of course, but who are these people I live with these days… people who have jobs and drive and have girlfriends? I wonder where my worm collecting and sandbox playing garden helpers have disappeared to.

Christmas decorations in the Music Room. The girl liked all the retro colors and style and I can see all the old becoming new again just as it often does.

Back at home I did at least manage to finish up the bulk of the garden cleanup and bring in the last of the tender things, just in time for our four cold days which actually managed to put a little frost into the soil and a skim of ice on the mountain lakes. Immediately the conversation turned to the impending winter and all the joys of snow and cold. Rumor around here is we are to expect a “bad” winter with a bunch of cold and snow all courtesy of an El Niño weather pattern, which to me sounds exciting but I wonder if it really stands a chance. Perhaps we do have the conditions for a nice Nor’easter pulling in all kinds of snowy moisture from the coast but I’m not sure I can completely put my trust in what “everyone” is saying. From what I gather 2023 is on track to be the warmest year ever recorded and I’m just not ready to put warmest year and bad winter together as a forecast… so as always we will wait and see what the actual local weather does.

Ready for winter with just a few still-too-nice to be cut down perennials and a few growing evergreens. The ‘Gold Cone’ juniper to the left is getting a bit sloppy as it approaches maturity and I’m debating taking an axe to it. The kids wanted it for Christmas though, so once the lights are off…

We will also have to wait and see what the gardener here does. I’m ready to leave this season of brown behind and move on to white. It can be snow or snowdrops, both will make me equally happy although I don’t know if my knee is ready for a season on the slopes yet… although kneeling is a critical part of snowdrop season as well…

I begged and borrowed my way to enough leaves to blanket the potager beds with a cover of mulch. Tulips have been planted in several and with or without snow it should be a nice April show.

I just checked the 10 day forecast. Only four days below freezing and an inch of rain next Sunday. Those lows are well onto the warm side of average in a month when we should be below freezing each night, and those lows are not exactly the weather we will need for a white Christmas.

Many plants will enjoy another mild winter. Lycoris houdyshellii on the left and L. radiata on the right will suffer foliage damage if it gets too cold for too long. Based on a twenty year average they shouldn’t survive here, but on a five year? …so far so good.

I apologize for a somewhat gloomy post on a gloomy late autumn day, but if you need a flashback to cheerier times give Cathy a visit at Words and Herbs for her week of flowers. It’s what I should be looking at rather than whining about weather and moping about the season. Perhaps I’ll visit now. Enjoy 🙂

Christmas Spirit

Dec12

On Sunday Pennsylvania goes back to some of the restrictions we saw back in March. Lockdown is how some would call it but inconvenient seems like a better descriptor… unless your livelyhood is again at stake… Restaurants are back to take-out only and indoor entertainment venues and community activities are cancelled. Stores are limited to 50% capacity. It’s like lockdown lite and I guess that’s all you can get away with when so much of our state government is determined to fight for our freedoms even while hundreds of residents die each day from a virus they insist isn’t that bad. But you know this. You read the news, and those who are being safe are being safe and those who aren’t just won’t believe the stove is hot until they touch it.

The Orangery, one of Longwood’s main conservatories. This was all yellow chrysanthemums and a wall of yellow Salvia madrensis just a few days before we visited.

Longwood’s greenhouses are considered indoor entertaiment, and as such will now be closed throughout the holidays, but fortunately we were able to get down there on our usual Sunday after Thanksgiving visit. The tickets were reserved a week in advance, and even though by the time the day arrived everything was sold out we were still happy to find the place nearly empty. I believe ticket sales had been cut down to about 25% normal capacity, so from our first step out of the car, through the entrance, to the grounds, through our meal, through the greenhouse, back to our car we barely touched a cleaned surface or moved within six feet of another visitor. I felt entirely safe, but keep in mind I also believe in the 5 seconds rule so your results may vary.

Under the cover of Australian tree ferns, two ribbons of poinsettia surround a line of fountains running down the center of the exhibition hall.

As usual the decorations were perfect. Swathes of holiday flowers, stylish ornaments, perfect lighting, and all the special touches we look for on our visits. Even the kids were impressed although I suspect they’re both into the stage where much of what their dad does embarrasses them, and forcing them to pose as they opened the bathroom door probably didn’t help. My bad, but I consider the conservatory bathrooms to be one of the underrated highlights of any Longwood visit. Lushly planted green walls surround the spacious private powder rooms, and even if you’re not inspired to take a picture you’ll probably never again want to settle for a drafty stall.

I don’t think she’s smiling under the mask but whatever, I’m sure these assignments build character.

I’ve only got a few more decent pictures since most of the time we just enjoyed the visit, but Longwood has been posting quite a few photos online this year and pretty much all of them are better anyway so let me suggest their website, Facebook, Instagram, or whatever media you prefer. Also I recommend their drone flight through the greenhouses video which really shows off the inside decorations. It’s almost as good as being there.

I always drag the kids through the greenhouses once during the daylight hours… much better to see all the plants that way 🙂

Both inside and out, the best show starts as daylight fades. Lights are everywhere and decorations sparkle and it’s nearly impossible to take in all the fantastic detail.

Just imagine inventorying and storing all the ornaments every year.

There’s always a nightime hush after dark. A nice spiked or unspiked hot chocolate makes an excellent strolling companion, maybe not so much for our visit though since it was so warm we barely even needed our coats.

Everything a-sparkle and a-glow. If this scene doesn’t please Santa I don’t know what will.

Each decorated tree was better than the last.

After our final cruise around the greenhouse we did one more lap around the grounds. We caught all the outdoor lights, visited a few bonfires, and took in one final fountain show.

The main fountain show is shut down for the winter but the theatre fountains are still a show.

So we had a great visit. You should go as well, but maybe not this year since besides being mostly sold out, the greenhouses are shut down until Jan 4th the earliest. Put it on your list though, and then stay safe so that everyone’s still around next year to check it off.

All the best, and if you didn’t do it before watch the drone video!

A Longwood Christmas

Dec3

A few years ago we almost gave up on holiday visits to Longwood Gardens. We’re lingerers after all and the crowds and hustle bustle of hundreds of visitors can put a lot of pressure on ‘that guy’ who’s holding up the line because he wants to give all the gardenia flowers a sniff. We kept at it though because for as nice as Christmas and good cheer are, a few whiffs of the tropics can also go a long way bringing some jolly to a cold winter night… and these are the long nights and stressful days which can really use some tropical relief.

The orangery decked out for the holidays. Warmth, humidity, and sunshine made the display even better.

Who would have thought the answer to our crowded visits could be as simple as going on a less crowded day? For the second year in a row we visited on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and for Christmas diehards that might be inappropriately early, but for us it’s been working perfectly. The weather was beautiful and we nearly had the place to ourselves (relatively speaking of course).

This year the apples are back, this time keeping company with thousands of floating red cranberries.

The conservatories are always perfectly decorated with the colors and sounds of the season. I think my favorite part this year was the bright sunshine streaming in through the glass when we first arrived. Walking through the doors and into the sunny, humid warmth was an instant escape from weeks of static and dry skin.

Walls of windows, tree ferns, and fountains… I could get used to this 🙂

Flowers, greenery, and holiday decorations. You can imagine I took plenty of pictures but since they’re not snowdrop photos I’ll spare you from the bulk of it. Click >here< for last Christmas or >here< for last summer if you need more, or better yet visit the Longwood website for the real stuff!

My favorite view this year, a courtyard scene off the back of the music room.

Since the kids ditched us this year there was plenty of time to admire the boring flowers without anyone tugging a coat sleeve. Longwood always has orchids and I suddenly had the time to admire them… although I’m still far from being an orchid person (mostly due to their habit of dying on me).

Just a small section of a pink and white ‘orchid tree’

A beautifully patterned moth orchid

I won’t go on and on about every conservatory flower but I did find something which I thought was even more special than their regular. In one of the back greenhouse passages was a display of a few of their ‘on trial’ poinsettia, and I thought is was an interesting glimpse into some of the variety which this humble plant from Central America has been bred into. This is also where I met some of the ‘golden’ poinsettias which carry names such as ‘Autumn Leaves, and ‘Gold Rush’, and came in colors more traditionally associated with the end of summer. What do you think? At least there’s no blue dye or glitter in sight!

Longwood poinsettia trials

Poinsettias for the fall?

Poinsettia in hot pink…

I’m a sucker for any collection of plants.

…and then night fell. We grabbed a bite to eat, toured the grounds, enjoyed the fountains (not the main fountains, they’re off for the winter), took in some Christmas songs around the organ, warmed up around the fire, and then closed the place down with one last tour of the conservatory. It was holiday-magical in the late evening, with most visitors having already headed to the exit.

Ok, one more picture at night.

I guess it was getting kind of late… and empty 🙂

A Longwood Christmas with a French feel. The symmetry and apple-cranberry patterns surrounded by box are chateau parterre inspired.

Then we were the ones headed to the exit.

The stroll back out to the car. A two hour drive home awaits 😉

As usual we enjoyed our visit, and it must have been somewhat inspiring since I spent a few hours this weekend out in the cold putting up our own lights. So far the reviews have been less than flattering, and there’s no talk of admission tickets, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

If you decide to make your way to Longwood this year for the displays be sure to buy your tickets online before you go, just to make sure they’re available. Also if you want to take in a quieter visit, try to avoid Saturdays and the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Those might be the nights when you’re better off hitting the eggnog at home.

Wrapping the holidays back up

Jan1

Happy New Year!

It’s been fun, but New Year’s day marks the end of winter break and tomorrow means a return to work, so to prove that I haven’t been slacking for the entire holiday season here are a few highlights. They’re all kind of off-garden-topic but lately I’ve been lost in seed lists and plant offerings and not much real work has been completed…. other than cleaning and eating and cleaning and assembling Christmas presents and repeating as necessary!

Snow came and went and then came again for the entire month of December and for some reason coats and gloves are always just inconvenient for anyone under the age of 16.

There was plenty of holiday decorating and holiday traditions but this year we broke away from the standard gingerbread and went with a sugar cookie version. The kids also insisted they could decorate the whole thing themselves…… so far so good, but I’ll spare you from a picture of the finished product 🙂 There was shopping….. the less said of that the better…. but I did get to cross the IKEA Swedish meatball lunch off my to-experience list. We made it down to Longwood for their Christmas display…. Unfortunately we did not purchase tickets beforehand so ended up waiting two hours before being allowed entry. I knew that might be a possibility but wasn’t sure what time we would be there, since morning snow delayed us for 2 hours and then traffic delays added another hour. But I hope the people at Longwood would have worked with us had our times been way off, so next time I’ll try for tickets beforehand. The kids were great though, and didn’t seem bothered at all by the delay… but I was a little disappointed we couldn’t see much outside while the sun was still shining.The miniature train display is always the highlight of the trip.

Inside the greenhouses the display is always special. In the cooler houses cyclamen rule, but poinsettias, amaryllis, orchids, and hundreds of other plants pack the beds and arrangements. winter flowers at longwood conservatory One of the centerpieces was the tree fern room. Always flooded with a thin sheet of water, this year Granny Smith and Rome apples were arranged into a floating flourish of color. The hanging “chandelier” isn’t too shabby either!And then back outside to finish up the outdoor decorations…. it’s really an amazing display!

To finish up the holidays, the next day we headed out to Omi and Opa’s house on Long Island, NY. Their snow had all melted so it was perfect running and playing weather. Between wrestling with cousins and uncle piggyback rides there was a little history at the Old Field Lighthouse. And always a visit to the beach, with a ton of rock, shell and driftwood collecting!And then back home to face the new year and the next winter storm system…. and to emerge from winter hibernation.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and is ready for January. The next post will be back to plants, now that the winter garden is set up and running and snowdrops and cyclamen are waking up!

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

Tag Archives: Longwood christmas

A Boring November

Christmas Spirit

A Longwood Christmas