L is for Longwood Gardens

Have you ever been to a public gardens? In my neck of the woods it seems there's a garden everywhere you turn - Hershey, Philadelphia, Lititz, Winterthur. But the one I return to time after time is Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square. In fact, I have a trip scheduled for next Friday with my mom to see the spring blooms.

I've been to Longwood in every season and just can't pick a favorite time. Although I visited in the spring one year and it was rainy. We went anyway because we drove two hours so...

It was magical!

No one else was there. It was us, the

employees and the garden cats (we didn't even know there were garden cats until they popped out of their hiding places because the conservatory was deserted). Employees were walking up to chat with us, rooms were empty except for us, we could loiter as long as we liked without feeling like we were holding everyone up. And the photographs! See the photographs above. I felt as if I had hopped the fence before they were officially open.

So my secret advice for visiting gardens is:

If it rains, grab an umbrella and head for the gardens.