It's hard to say what draws people to orchids. I think it's a lot of different things.
They come from every continent on the planet, they're pollinated in all sorts of bizarre and interesting
ways, and the beauty of them is, in my humble opinion, unparalleled in the plant world, but also
very unique in the plant world. There isn't much in the way of a flower that looks like an orchid.
Longwood has a long and storied collection. Our orchid collection began with a gift to Alice du Pont
early on in the early 1900s and that really sparked Pierre and Alice's interest in orchids.
After that, the biggest addition to the collection came from Ethel du Pont, Mrs. William K. du Pont,
who gave them her collection which at the time was one of the greatest in the country. And that
really pushed Longwood's orchid collection onto a national stage. There are so many good things on
the horizon for the orchid collection. The biggest one probably is our new Orchid House display.
I think what is happening there is just something truly innovative and excellent that is going to
give our guests a beautiful aesthetic experience. The restoration of the Orchid House is totally
grounded in the legacy of our founder and that's experimentation, innovation, and not being afraid
to be bold. And this project, again while it may seem small, is really bold. John Milner Architects
were brought in to help us with this amazing restoration, but one of the most important things
that I think that they did was to help us unstitch the history of this amazing structure. This little
jewel box was unique unto itself and so Milner helped us peel back those layers of history and
then we actually, very methodically, and I think in the absolute right way
reconstructed it. We create beauty and we do it like nobody else and so that spirit of innovation
and horticultural display, I mean it is totally evident in this Orchid House. Most people are
familiar with the public gardens at Longwood. The beautiful conservatories, the outdoor gardens, the
Main Fountain Garden, things like that, but since Longwood became a public garden in the late 1950s,
research at Longwood Gardens has really played a pivotal role in the background of helping develop
those displays and sort of helping curate the collections that you see out in the gardens.
And so as we looked at the history and the legacy of the orchid collection here the
rarity of orchids here in Pennsylvania, and really around the United States. We decided that we could
elevate the orchid collection by beginning this Plant Conservation Program. What we've done is
develop this expertise doing original research on how to germinate orchid seeds and how to grow them
using plants here in Pennsylvania. But we can then take this and apply it all around the world,
not only making a contribution to the collections ultimately, but making a contribution to science.
There's a lot of work being done here. One of the things is this incredibly
special aggregate which is basically concrete filled with stones. And so
the modern aggregate work is matching the original with custom sourced ingredients and materials, and
the whole nine. It's a really incredible project. They're also refinishing the bronze window frames
so that they'll look much closer to what they look like originally when they were first put in.
Much of this building is about the authenticity of materials and process. There are authentic
bits of metal work everywhere at Longwood Gardens done by some very talented people over the years.
And we didn't want to be divergent from that sentiment. We wanted to make sure that
everything in this space that we were involved in carries the same amount of authentic currency
that has always been historically a part of Longwood Gardens. And so we start with the
drawing and then the ends are forged under a mechanical hammer or an air hammer and then
we just hand formed all the scrolls with tools hot to match the drawing and assembled it.
The panels and the scroll work and the forging that process hasn't really changed over 3,000 years.
It feels amazing to be in here and I would say that this house definitely represents
an arrival both of the orchid collection and of Longwood's aesthetic development of this display.
We have orchids on four walls now so there are literally more orchids in here than there ever
have been before with room to add even more as the collection grows. What would Mr. and Mrs. du Pont
think of the restored orchid house? I would say that they would probably be blown away.
They really left us with two simple mandates to be an extraordinary garden of horticultural beauty and
display and then to be a center of educational training and learning. And so if there's any
location that we have within our gardens that is fulfilling that it's this Orchid House.