March 1, 2016

The early signs of spring are more beautiful than ever at Longwood Gardens with the addition of 500,000 geophyte bulbs now in full bloom. The geophytes, which were planted in October, join the hundreds of thousands of other early bulbs that have naturalized over the years throughout Longwood’s landscape. Guests can see colorful sweeps of geophytes near the Peirce-du Pont House, Peirce’s Park and Oak and Conifer Knoll, in addition to blankets of color on the lawns near the Flower Garden Walk, the Birdhouse Tree House, Eye of Water, and Oak Knoll.

Geophytes are non-woody flowering plants, and may be classified as bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes, and tuberous roots. Geophytes that naturalize will adapt to a site and reproduce as they would in their native habitat. Longwood gardeners have been naturalizing many small geophytes, creating large sweeps of color to brighten the late winter and early spring garden.

The Geophytes are expected to be in bloom through late March.

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You’re not seeing things: Those poppies in the Longwood Conservatory really are a luscious shade of blue.

Once considered a myth, blue-poppies (Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’) are alive and thriving at Longwood, but only for a limited time. These spectacular flowers – native to the high elevations of the Himalayan Mountains – are on display only for the next 10 to 14 days, according to a Longwood press release.

Longwood Gardens, one of very few places to see these rare gems, uses a growing technique to force the blue-poppies to flower every year in March. The cultivar, ‘Lingholm’, produces large flowers that average four-inches in diameter. The substantial petals are a mesmerizing deep sky blue color, the release said.

Blue-poppies are infrequently cultivated outside their native habitat. Given the right conditions, however, they can thrive in the northern regions of the U.S. and Europe.

Longwood Gardens, the former estate of industrialist Pierre S. du Pont on Route 1 near Kennett Square, is open daily, including holidays. Admission is $20 for adults; $17 for seniors (age 62 and over); $10 for students (ages 5 to18 or with valid student ID) and free for children 4 and under. Group rates are available.

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