Longwood Gardens
Longwood Gardens is a botanical garden in Kennett Square , Pennsylvania (USA), fifty kilometers west of Philadelphia. Its size is 4.2 km².
history
Longwood's story begins in 1700 when a family of Quakers named Peirce bought the property from William Penn . She ran a farm there, but in 1798 the grandchildren of the first owner, Samuel and Joshua Peirce, began building an arboretum , which was named Peirce's Park as one of the largest collections of native and exotic trees and shrubs in the USA around 1850 was known. The house built by the family in 1730 can still be viewed on the site today and has been open to the public since 1976 - together with the later extensions. As Quakers, the Peirces were opponents of slavery , which is why they made their house available as a station for the Underground Railway , an abolitionist network that enabled escaped slaves to escape from the southern states. In 1906 the owner at the time, Linda W. Bevan, gave a sawmill permission to fell the trees on the site. To save the arboretum from destruction, the property was acquired by Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954), a member of the DuPont family who owned it and later became a member of the General Motors board . Longwood Gardens owes its present shape to the horticultural and structural changes made under his leadership. Since 1946, the management and maintenance of the garden have been in the hands of the Longwood Foundation, founded by du Pont in 1937. She is also responsible for the extensive education and training programs that are offered to hobby and recreational gardeners as well as to the professional level. Longwood Gardens has been open to the public since the death of Pierre S. du Pont.
description
Greenhouses
The greenhouse complex, which was built between 1919 and 1921 and has since been expanded several times , now consists of three parts, which together cover an area of approx. 18,000 m². In addition to the various show gardens, in which a total of 5,500 plant species and varieties are presented, there are exhibition and event rooms as well as one of the largest organs in the USA with 237 registers and around 10,000 pipes .
Outdoor area
131.5 hectares of outdoor area are open to the public. In addition to the original arboretum and extensive open spaces, there are twenty themed gardens that either show individual groups of plants (e.g. roses , lilacs or wisteria ), depict certain habitats (e.g. alpine gardens) or are just beautiful (show discounts).
Longwood Gardens is famous for its numerous fountains and water features .
Individual evidence
- ^ Frederick E. Roberts, in: Tomasz Aniśko, Plant Exploration for Longwood Gardens. P. 10.
See also
literature
- Howard Loxton: History of the Garden. Its evolution & design. Barnes Noble Books, London 1996, ISBN 978-0-76070-275-8
- William M. Klein: Gardens of Philadelphia & the Delaware Valley. Temple University Press, Philadelphia PA, 1995, ISBN 978-1-56639-313-3
- Tomasz Anisko: Plant Exploration for Longwood Gardens. Timber Press, Portland OR, 2006, ISBN 978-0-88192-738-2
Web links
Coordinates: 39 ° 52 ′ 16.3 " N , 75 ° 40 ′ 28.9" W.