Kennett Square

Kennett Square, Pa. – October 02, 2026 -- Longwood Gardens opens its Autumn's Colors season on October 2, running through November 15, 2026, with the Chrysanthemum Festival beginning October 16 inside the East and Main Conservatories.

More than 5,000 chrysanthemums fill the conservatories with sculpted forms

Horticulturists have trained the plants into spirals, cascading clouds, and a new double chrysanthemum arch, according to Chris Cole, Vice President of Horticulture at Longwood Gardens. The display, he says, takes more than a year of planning for a run of just a few weeks. The Exhibition Hall also debuts a display inspired by the Japanese suiseki stone-viewing tradition, featuring chrysanthemum forms up to 10 feet long.

On October 24 from 1 to 3 pm, Longwood's Science team hosts "Meet Us at the Mums," answering questions on the horticultural techniques behind the festival; the event is free with admission.

Kennett Square, Pa. -- Longwood Gardens will open A Longwood Christmas on November 20, 2026, running through January 10, 2027, with a cosmos-themed holiday display and timed tickets already available at longwoodgardens.org.

A galaxy-themed display fills the conservatories with gilded trees and star motifs

Visitors entering the Visitor Center will see images from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, recommended by the Space Telescope Science Institute. A 22-foot rotating Frasier fir wrapped in a lit shooting-star garland stands on the Center Walk, while an 18-foot Fraser fir slowly revolves in the Music Room alongside Pierre S. du Pont's 1923 Porter Garden Telescope. More than 25 poinsettia varieties, paperwhites, and amaryllis fill the conservatories.