WEDNESDAY: Outdoors at Longwood Gardens

Firstly, thanks to Susan at A Southern Day Dreamer for allowing me to take part in this week's Outdoor Wednesday. Some of you might remember these photos from a couple of different posts dating back to just after Scott and I returned from our tour of the Brandywine Valley.

The Brandywine is home to 3 (maybe more) estates, mansions, and gardens that were cultivated by the DuPont family. We toured Nemours, Winterthur, and the impressive gardens of Longwood. These vignettes were taken at the Longwood Gardens Conservatory. If you haven't been ,I highly recommend taking the trip. It's magical!
Deep in the conservatory, just inside from the large Lilly pad display, there is a palm room no less than 40' in height. Palms, ferns, tropical succulents, and carnivorous plants thrive here and there are some gorgeous - I MEAN GORGEOUS - displays. The walkways circle the outside of the room and ramp, like a parking garage toward the back wall. I caught this little guy hanging out on the fruit of a tree and had to take a picture! Don't you love that color blue?

As you learned last week - I get super charged by the things that happen in nature, and the color palettes that form in even split seconds. I found this room that I think perfectly sums up this picture, don't you?
Granted, it's a little more modern than I like - but a good match, and a great way to show that these colors can look beautiful together. This is one of my favorite shots of the whole day. The conservatory has a large pond and on either end of it a pair of these fountains that gracefully spill water into a shallow pool that spills over a rock wall. I told you this place was magical! This particular space has tons of ferns and shade loving plants, along with loads of lavender! Some in pots, some planted, some hanging from the ceiling! So, what's our interior transformation from this picture?
Pretty good, no? The washed purples of the lavender, the taupe/brown of the fountain and perimeter, the pops of green from the ferns. Beautiful.
Bird of paradise is such a rare and unusual flower. (I totally borrowed that line! :) ) but I love taking pictures of them when they haven't fully opened. This one was perfect! And the interior:
Ah, now that's more liked it. Love this room! Jeffrey Bilhuber is a master with orange!
The conservatory had large baskets, and I mean LARGE baskets filled with these gorgeous pink fuchsia. They were stunning, and so easy to photograph. I love the pink and green and citron combination, don't you?
And the easy interior translation is:
I love this fresh and feminine living room. The white and touches of aged brass with the varied shades of blush and fuchsia are just perfect. There's even some hints of mossy green. (Under the table.)

And lastly, the foo dog to say goodbye. Longwood was filled with tons of these gorgeous stone statues and fountains. FILLED! Every turn was marked with one, and the focal point to every garden was centered by one. They were magnificent.
And my favorite interior translation:
Hope you enjoyed the tour of outside and my inside translation! Which is your favorite?