Christmas Gardens

December 22nd, 2015

Who would’ve thought that the most-visited time for America’s most-visited garden would be December?

Some of Longwood Gardens’ half a million outdoor lights.

But it’s true. The busiest time at Longwood Gardens is not around Mother’s Day or in summer but the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

If you’ve ever seen the Christmas display Longwood puts on with its half a million lights and over-the-top beautiful conservatory trees and tropical plants, you’ll understand why many people make it a Christmas tradition to go there every December.

The conservatory is the highlight with its masses of poinsettias, white lilies and conifers adorned with natural decorations.

Every year, staff does something extraordinary on the ballroom floor, which is typically flooded with an inch or so of water.

One year it was a royal table setting with turf underneath as carpet. Another year it was thousands of golden and red apples laid out in a paisley pattern across the floor. Another year it was a floral carpet leading up to a 15-foot Christmas tree.

This is what the conservatory’s ballroom floor looks like this year.

This year’s ballroom eye-popper is a series of lighted fountains, flanked by decorated conifers and leading to one glorious white-lit tree at the end.

An outdoor train display running through a miniature landscape is another nice touch (this year near the Terrace Café), and multi-colored lights strung all over landscape trees give the whole place a festive feel at night.

Even with the main fountain garden out of action until 2017, there’s plenty to enjoy. Smaller lighted fountain shows set to music run continuously after dark in the Outdoor Theatre.

The Longwood Christmas Display runs until Jan. 10 if you want to catch it yet this year.

If you like gardens at Christmas, I should mention four others worth adding to your bucket list…

U.S. Botanic Gardens’ lobby, decorated for Christmas.

1.) The U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. Every Christmas our national conservatory puts on a “Season’s Greenings” display that features poinsettias and showy tropicals with a collection of D.C. landmarks made out of plant parts.

U.S. Botanic Garden also has an excellent train room with model trains running through different landscapes each year. That’s in addition to the impressive displays throughout the conservatory, and on nice days, the National Garden outside and the nicely landscape Bartholdi Park across the street behind it.

Season’s Greenings runs until Jan. 3.

2.) Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Md. You could hit this amazing light display on the way home from the U.S. Botanic Garden.

Brookside Gardens’ Garden of Lights.

Brookside is an under-known public garden during the growing season, but for Christmas, it goes all out with plant lighting to rival Longwood.

There’s also a train display in a tropical greenhouse and winding, paved trails that make for a nice stroll through the lighted landscape.

Definitely go after dark to see Brookside’s Garden of Lights, which runs through Jan. 3.

3.) Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. It’s a 4-hour drive from Harrisburg, but like Longwood, Phipps is at its best for Christmas.

The century-old Victorian glasshouse is gorgeous lit at night, and the Broderie Room is always particularly “Christmasy” with its formal garden that changes seasonally.

Phipps’ train display

Phipps doesn’t have the outdoor gardens and nearly the outdoor lighting of Longwood, but the conservatory gives you much the same experience as Longwood’s conservatory.

And, yes, train fans. Phipps does have a large model train display running through a fairy-tale village.

Phipps’ Winter Flower Show and Light Garden runs through Jan. 10.

4.) The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. It’s obviously farther than a day trip, but this Vanderbilt estate is America’s biggest private home and especially astonishing during Christmas.

Biltmore’s marketing department isn’t exaggerating when they claim the house is decorated with “dozens of trees, thousands of ornaments, and miles of brightly lit evergreen garland.”

Biltmore’s “side attraction,” the conservatory at Christmas.

The highlight each year is the biggest decorated tree you’re likely to ever see – the main one in the dining room where George Vanderbilt first showed off his new home to family and friends on Christmas Eve 1895.

Biltmore has both daytime and evening tours (separately priced), and there’s a whole village on the sprawling property to visit while you’re down there.

Christmas at Biltmore runs until Jan. 10.