Student Activities

Student Activities give the interns the opportunity to explore the diversity of the horticulture field.  Students go behind-the-scenes at Longwood Gardens, visit private estates, and tour orchards, public gardens, museums, and nurseries. Student Activities are scheduled one day a month. Students are paid for their regular work hours while participating in student activities. Look at the list below for short descriptions on recent field trips and activities.

In addition to these activities, from May through October, the students may go on optional Weekly Plant Walks after work.  These guided garden walks go to nearby private and public gardens in the area.  Students are able to meet the gardeners and see some amazing landscapes up close.

• Barnard’s Orchard
• Brandywine River Museum
• Grounds for Sculpture
• NJ Insect Rearing Laboratory
• Northcreek Nurseries
• Phillips Mushroom Farm
• Winterthur
• Wreath-making

Barnard's Orchard

Barnard’s Orchard is a local orchard that grows apples, pears, peaches, pumpkins, blackberries, and other seasonal fruit and vegetables and some varieties of cut flowers grown in a greenhouse. We had the opportunity to ask questions and learn about research of new cultivars, fertilization and pest control methods, harvesting and pruning techniques, and the business aspects of running a fruit farm and country store.

Brandywine River Museum

The Brandywine River Museum is an art museum run by the Brandywine Conservancy, an organization founded with the purpose to conserve the land and history in the Brandywine valley. When we visited the Brandywine River Museum, museum volunteers gave us a tour, which is predominantly art of the Wyeth family, and interpreted many of the pieces.  The knowledgeable tour guides supplied interesting family stories and events associated with the paintings that made the tour invaluable.  They also talked to us about the land stewardship program, one program of the Brandywine Conservancy Environmental Management Center. This program helps implement conservation strategies on selected land areas to protect the natural, scenic, and historic resources of the sight. For more information on the Brandywine Conservancy, the land stewardship program, or the Brandywine River Museum go to their website: http://www.brandywineconservancy.org/conservancy.html

Grounds for Sculpture

The Grounds for Sculpture Garden, located in Hamilton, NJ, is a 35 acre sculpture park and museum.  Historically, the land was the location of the New Jersey state fair from 1745 to 1980.  In 1987 the land was purchased by J. Steward Johnson, Jr. and in 1992 Grounds for Sculpture opened to the public.  The garden features more than 250 pieces of garden sculptures by over 120 different artists.  Some of the most notable sculptures are by J. Steward Johnson, Jr. himself, and are sculptural recreations of famous paintings by Renoir, Monet, Rousseau, and Manet.  We went on a guided tour of the park in which the guide interpreted many of the pieces and gave some background information on the artists.  You can view the Grounds for Sculpture’s website at: http://www.groundsforsculpture.org/index.html.

New Jersey Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory

The Phillip Alampi Beneficial Insect Rearing Labratory of New Jersey is a facility, founded in 1985, that raises beneficial insects to release for control of a variety of insect and weed pests.  The insectarium has 30 environmentally controlled growing rooms in which they can control the temperature, photo period, and humidity to stimulate any season or time of day and to establish the ideal growing conditions for the specific insect.  The facility mass produces beneficial insects and sells them around the country for various pest control projects and experiments.  For more information about the lab visit their website: http://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/beneficialinsect.html. 

Northcreek Nurseries

This nursery was founded by Dale Hendrix and Steve Castorani in 1988. Northcreek is a propagation nursery that grows plugs for wholesale and retail growers, specializing in native plants of Eastern North America. They also are known for their deep Landscape Plugs that have 5” deep roots and can be planted directly in the ground.  These deep plugs are of low maintenance, easy-to-establish native plants and they are frequently used in restoration projects such as highway planting, habitat development, and erosion control projects.  Northcreek Nurseries is dedicated to running their business with environmental practices, such as establishing bird habitat, growing predominantly native plants, researching plants that can be used in rain gardens and bioretention ponds to mimic wetlands, and strictly recycling all containers. To learn more about Northcreek, please visit their website: http://www.northcreeknurseries.com/

Phillips Mushroom Farm

Phillips Mushroom Farm is a local mushroom farm here in Kennett, the mushroom capital of the world. It was founded in 1927 by William Phillips.  The Phillips family is responsible for innovative mushroom growing techniques, such as using ice for temperature control, that have made mushroom growing in the area more profitable. The farm began by growing mostly white button mushrooms, but now, 80 years later, Philips Mushroom Farm is the country’s largest marketer of specialty mushrooms. For more information, visit their website: http://www.phillipsmushroomfarms.com/index.html.

Winterthur Gardens

Winterthur is the estate house, farm, and gardens of Henry F. DuPont, the second cousin of Pierre S. du Pont, Longwood’s founder. The gardens were designed mostly by H.F. du Pont himself or in conjunction with landscape architect Marianne Coffin. In addition to the gardens there is a mansion that was designed by H.F. du Pont in a European country estate style and holds one of the largest collections of Americana furniture and antiques. The museum and gardens have been open to the public since 1951.  For more information, visit Winterthur’s website: http://www.winterthur.org.

Holiday Wreath-Making

For the holiday season, the college interns and international students did a wreath making activity with conservatory gardener, Mary Allinson. Using greens from Longwood Gardens and a variety of natural and artificial decorative materials, the students each created their own holiday wreath.  It was a fun afternoon of Christmas music, cookies, and wreath-making taught by one of the Longwood Christmas display experts.