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When we think of Botanical Gardens, we usually don't think of winter. But in reality, Christmas is one of the better times of year to visit Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. From the end of November through the beginning of January, Longwood Gardens hosts a series of events that fill the conservatory with Christmas Organ Concerts, Organ Sing-alongs, Carillon Concerts, Chorals and Handbells, Strolling Performers and visits from Santa. And if you can brave the winter chill, you will see a delightful colored Fountain Display with holiday music every half hour. At dark, Longwood turns on their beautiful outdoor light display; shimmering stars seem to hover high above the ground, and trees glisten with over 400,000 colored lights that turn the gardens into a wonderland.

Longwood Gardens is the creation of Pierre du Pont, industrialist, philanthropist, and conservationist, who purchased the property in 1906. The site was already known for its fine collection of trees, and du Pont had every intention of preserving the trees and creating a beautiful garden for his family and posterity. Longwood Gardens expands its commitment to the public with extensive ongoing renovation projects and a continuing education curriculum in Gardening, Botany, Horticulture, Landscape Architecture, Floral Design, and much more.

The garden's four acres of heated greenhouses contain 20 indoor gardens that manage to integrate holiday cheer with settings most of us wouldn't necessarily associate with Christmas. Imagine a tropical rainforest that hosts a miniature choo-choo train running on elevated timber tracks and carrying tiny clay pots and holiday decorations. In the Silver Garden full of cacti and aloe and sand, you'll find a huge living wreath composed of succulent plants. On the way out of the room, you'll pass a fantasy tree called "Shimmering Elegance" adorned with peacock feathers and clusters of clear glass ornaments that look like bubbles.

The narrow Arcadia passage running alongside the Silver Garden is hung with giant "Kissing Balls" made out of boxwood, lilies and salal leaves. They look like big orbs of mistletoe. You'll see holiday wreaths made of orchids, begonias, poinsettia, and bromeliads. In the chilly Grapery, with its dormant grape vines, the ceiling is hung with a huge wreath made out of preserved taxus (yews) and clusters of grape lights.

The huge exhibition hall features a revolving 22-foot tall Douglas fir standing inside a circle of 200 water jets. The tree is decorated with red ornaments and silver icicles that create a lovely complement to the red begonia topiary trees that surround it. Other decorated trees crop up throughout the conservatory, decorated by local floral designers. Twenty-two little fir trees line the greenhouses that shelter the starter plants, each one decorated by a local elementary school.

As you leave the humid comfort of the conservatory, you will pass beautiful light displays on the way to the Pierce-du Pont House. The 5-acre Main Fountain Garden is hung with thousands of tiny brilliant blue LED lights, including a tall blue spruce sporting glittering snowflake ornaments. You'll pass through a row of lights shaped like a lilac garden, cheerful green-and-yellow Witch Hazel and Daffodil displays and alongside graceful alleys of trees. The hanging stars and icicles tower over your head before you are greeted with a beautiful Wildlife Tree decorated with edible icicles made of raisins and red millet strands, suet bags and citrus cups filled with bird-seed, dried flowers and Indian corn for wildlife winter treats.

Inside or out, the many holiday delights at Longwood Gardens make it a special trip for children of all ages. They are open every day of the year from 9 am. They can be reached by phone at 610-388-1000 or on the web at www.longwoodgardens.org.