This year Longwood Gardens, 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, features the many shapes of the season in a display that is both nostalgic and inventive. Now through January 5,2020, “A Longwood Christmas” is inspired by the contours of traditional holiday favorites, such as poinsettias to pinecones to snowflakes, as well as shapes unique to Longwood.

A Longwood Christmas is an indoor and outdoor experience. Inside Longwood’s warm four-acre Conservatory, a whimsical wonderland awaits. The Exhibition Hall is adorned with a larger-than-life, handcrafted 400-foot long ribbon entwined with giant ornaments nestled among a forest of trees culminating in a towering Christmas tree decorated in red, gold, and silver ornaments.

The Music Room is transformed into a confectionary lover’s dream, brimming with enchantment and a dash of nostalgia. The upscale confectionary shop is decorated for the holidays featuring two 18-foot Fraser firs dripping in pastel Christmas candy. In a collaboration with America’s oldest candy store, Shane’s Confectionary in Philadelphia, the Music Room showcases vintage candy molds and clear toy candies, a once popular Pennsylvania German Christmas tradition. The “front counter” is filled with horticulturally themed chocolates, lollipops, and cookies delivering a satisfying sugar rush, while apothecary jars filled with artistic lollipops and other sweet favorites in a rainbow of colors delight the senses.

The East Conservatory boasts the largest indoor tree in the display, a 24-foot tall white fir with a pinecone motif flanked by cut white pine trees and fountain jets. Guests will be “tickled pink” in the Rose House featuring a living tree decked out in more than 150 ‘Christmas Joy Pink’ poinsettias as handcrafted chandeliers glow from above.

In the Ballroom, an 18-foot Fraser fir drips in crystal ornaments fashioned in shapes reminiscent of the crystals found in the 90-year-old chandeliers and sconces that adorn the majestic room. Twelve handcrafted crystal prisms accentuate the Ballroom’s elaborate sconces, fabric-paneled walls, and rose-colored etched glass ceiling.

In addition to the decorative grandeur, horticulture grandeur abounds. Thousands of poinsettias, amaryllis, fragrant paperwhites, and other floral finery fill the conservatory. Living wreaths fashioned from everything from orchids to succulents, and trees fashioned from a variety of plant material highlight the artistic skills of our horticulturists and the beauty and diversity of nature.

More than 500,000 lights grace 150 trees throughout the outdoor Gardens. New displays include dancing lights that simulate the fountain jets in the Main Fountain Garden, mimicking the iconic illuminated fountain performances. The towering trees bordering the Large Lake are the backdrop for a repeating illuminated light show set to holiday music classics.

In the Meadow Garden, stroll through a 140-ft tunnel of light in the winter landscape, and discover a grove of glowing architectural orbs that pulse and change to the rhythm of holiday favorites.

The Wildlife Tree is swathed in skeins of yarn accentuating the tree’s structure, while hundreds of handmade ornaments serve as a holiday buffet for our furry and feathered friends. The always-anticipated 25-foot Gardener’s Tree showcases some of nature’s most unique shapes– ornamental gourds.

In the Open Air Theatre, fountains dance day and night to holiday classics. Young and old will delight in Longwood’s outdoor train display as it travels past miniature Longwood landmarks illuminated for the holiday season.

Created by Longwood craftsmen and local artisans, three fire pits invite guests to warm up by the fire on chilly evenings, weather permitting.

Throughout the season, Longwood’s grand Ballroom hosts free and ticketed holiday-inspired performances as well as daily carol sing-alongs performed on Longwood’s grand 10,010-pipe organ. The Strolling Olde Towne Carolers add to the holiday charm on select evenings, while Longwood’s historic Chimes Tower plays holiday music every half-hour. For a complete listing of performances, visit longwoodgardens.org.

A Longwood Christmas runs through January 5, 2020. Admission to the Christmas display is by Timed Admission Ticket, with tickets purchased in advance for a specific date and time.

In 1906, industrialist Pierre du Pont (1870-1954) purchased a small farm near Kennett Square, Pennsylvaia, to save a collection of historic trees from being sold for lumber. Today, Longwood Gardens is one of the world’s great horticultural displays, encompassing 1,100 acres of gardens, woodlands, meadows, fountains, 10,010-pipe Aeolian organ and 4.5-acre conservatory. Open daily, Longwood is one of more than 30 gardens in the Philadelphia region known as America’s Garden Capital.

(Photos courtesy of Longwood Gardens)