Longwood Chimes Issue 297

LONGWOOD CHIMES 297

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Summer 2018

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No. 297

In Brief

Sharing is something of an art form here. For generations, our staff, students, and volunteers have sharpened their skills by sharing them with colleagues in our Gardens, in the larger community, and around the globe—who share with us in turn. Our culture of sharing shines in this issue of Chimes as we spotlight our new course that spreads orchid knowledge worldwide, our innovative program to preserve horticulture expertise, and a combined effort to share land stewardship techniques with fellow organizations.

Across time, technologies, and cultures, we’ve shared not only the experience of years, but the magic of moments. Enjoy this issue …we all have so much to give.

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To Protect and Preserve Documenting and conserving our intellectual capital for the next generation.

By Rebecca Ralston

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Window to the World Longwood’s first free online open course paves the way for unprecedented learning.

By Katie Mobley

Sensing Singapore A Longwood Fellow shares planning (and life) lessons from a generous host garden in Singapore.

By Julia Thomé

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Pipe Dreams Open Organ Console Day invites guests to try their hand at playing The Longwood Organ.

By Patricia Evans

Features

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Making (and Breaking) the Glass Ceiling Part two in our women in horticulture series focuses on the efforts of those who followed in Alice du Pont’s footsteps.

By Lynn Schuessler

End Notes

Fountains of Knowledge Designing a spectacular fountain performance requires artistry, patience, and collaboration.

By Katie Mobley

Quest for Fire The use of prescribed fire exemplifies a natural progression in our land stewardship principles and practice.

By Tom Brightman and Erik Stefferud

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All in the Family Commemorating the Johnson family’s 100-year legacy of service and commitment.

By David Sleasman

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In Brief

Yoko Arakawa demonstrates chrysanthemum pruning technique.

Photo by Daniel Traub.

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Legacy

To Protect and Preserve In a small office at Longwood Gardens, a ring of desks sits with chairs tucked in tightly beneath them. On the wall, a cardboard sign reads “Where in the world is Yoko?” referring to Yoko Arakawa, a recently retired Longwood grower.

The board marks several places with pins—Washington, Japan, and China among them—but with Arakawa’s retirement in May 2017, it also reveals something else: the need to continue functioning without a person who, before her retirement, had played a vital role in the creation of the fall Chrysanthemum Festival.

This absence isn’t a challenge unique to Longwood, but rather a theme echoed across many public gardens. It’s rooted in the falling number of young people entering horticulture, a field projected to decrease by 9% between 2014 and 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“A lot of people were taking all their knowledge with them [when they retired],” says Vice President of Horticulture Sharon Loving, reflecting on the past. “We would sometimes go a little backwards.”

Loving first noticed the declining numbers of qualified applicants for open positions 15 years ago. “If we don’t have people interested [in horticulture], it could be the end of public gardens as we know it,” she says.

To combat this decline, Longwood has implemented more comprehensive

succession planning in the past decade.

Last spring Longwood reached out to the University of Delaware to create an interdisciplinary team of students to support the larger succession planning effort. These students—Joy McCusker, Max Gold, and myself—focused on documenting and preserving Longwood’s intellectual capital. In the summer of 2017, we began working on a program to capture the knowledge of Longwood staff and add to its toolbox of succession planning.

Throughout the summer, McCusker, Gold, and I gathered and documented expertise on a series of topics from growers each week, then converted that knowledge into eight videos about Longwood Gardens’ chrysanthemums. These films range from 3 to 10 minutes in length and cover such topics as grafting Longwood’s pagoda display, creating cascades, and caring for the Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum.

McCusker, whose landscape architecture major made her similar to Longwood’s target audience—current and future Longwood staff—focused on the project’s horticulture aspects while learning directly from the growers and acting as the “audience.” As a wildlife ecology major, my role was to write the scripts and narrate the videos. Gold, who majors in visual communications, took photos and filmed and edited the footage to create the final videos. These final videos are another tool

Throughout the summer, McCusker, Gold, and I gathered and documented expertise on a series of topics from growers each week, then converted that knowledge into eight videos about Longwood Gardens’ chrysanthemums.

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Documenting and conserving our intellectual capital for the next generation.

By Rebecca Ralston

in the Gardens’ succession planning efforts, helping to preserve Longwood’s knowledge and the operation of public gardens as a whole.

“For a pilot program we got to learn a lot,” says Tim Jennings, a Longwood senior horticulturist who helped create the succession planning project. He hopes the project will continue to evolve this summer and that students will refine the topics first covered in 2017. With the continuation of the knowledge video program, future generations can “take [the knowledge captured] and expand upon it…it all revolves around legacy.”

To Loving, the focus of the succession program is “the uniqueness of what we do— capturing that process, that intellectual capital, that spark of creativity and handing it off to the next generation so they can run with it.”

The declining rate of people entering horticulture careers and the realities of funding challenges will continue to affect public gardens in the future. While instructional videos could never replace hands-on learning from one gardener to another, such formal methods of preservation will help protect what could otherwise be lost.

“We’re really here—stewarding this garden—for a short time in its history,” says Loving. “We can say this is how we did it, and then they can go from there. It propels people forward.”

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Longwood’s first, free online open course paves the way for unprecedented learning.

By Katie Mobley

Education

Window to the World Top 5 States by Percentage of Participants in Everything About Orchids NY 3.79% MD 7.84%

DE 8.36% PA 38.29% NJ 10.75%

Top 5 Countries with Participants in Everything About Orchids

1. United States 2. Canada 3. India 4. United Kingdom 5. South Africa

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Since 2009, Longwood Gardens has delivered dynamic online learning offerings to expand our reach, connect with learners from around the globe, and keep with founder Pierre S. du Pont’s desire to continue as an institution committed to both education and instruction. A commitment to excellence in education is not only integral to our mission—it’s in the air we breathe.

With the launch of our first, free online open course, Everything About Orchids, we have further expanded our global impact.

Designed to complement our onsite display and leverage the function and flexibility of the online classroom, Everything About Orchids granted students free, exceptional access to our orchid experts and collection.

Available January 20 through May 6, 2018, the course transported Longwood’s renowned orchid collection to participants ranging from novice enthusiasts to expert growers residing in areas from South Africa to South Dakota, offering detailed content on orchid care and culture, floral designs, breeding and conservation, and much more. Taught by Longwood experts through such diverse media as videos, photo stories, discussion forums, and interaction with the instructors themselves, this self-paced learning experience has been met with resounding success. A total of 5,626 participants enrolled in the course, representing 48 states, as well as 58 countries in all corners of the world.

Beyond the course’s impressive statistics and results are stories of accomplishment and enrichment. Brian Addison, a senior gardener at Walmer Castle and Gardens in Kent, England, who manages its display glasshouses, shares, “we have not previously used orchids much in our display, so the course looked like a good way to get an insight from real experts…. The course was excellent and very helpful. We now have a small collection of plants and are using the course information to help us integrate them

meaningfully and, hopefully, successfully into our display collection.”

It’s poetic that such a groundbreaking Longwood course focuses on orchids, considering Longwood’s remarkable orchid collection history, established by a grower who at first knew nothing about orchids. Louis H. Jacoby worked at Longwood from 1924 until his death in 1956 and was originally hired as Longwood’s rose grower. In 1926, Alice du Pont asked Jacoby if he was interested in growing orchids, as she intended to start a Longwood orchid collection. While Jacoby was indeed interested, he expressed to Mrs. du Pont that he was not a trained orchid grower and therefore not entirely confident in the task.

Alice and Pierre du Pont found a solution—they supplied Jacoby with all the books and materials available to learn the art of growing orchids. Jacoby taught himself by reading all he could, collaborating with orchid growers in the Wilmington and Philadelphia region, and by pure experimentation and passion. From an absence of orchid knowledge—yet a wish to learn—sprang one of our most notable core collections.

Which brings us to today. Greg Griffis, senior horticulturist and Longwood’s current orchid grower, along with Peter Zale, Longwood’s associate director of conservation, plant breeding, and collections, served as the knowledgeable guides of the course. They were also among the many behind-the-scenes content curators, demonstrating the exemplary breadth of collaboration across various Longwood departments required to create and implement the course.

“The course has allowed us to offer a new level of realism and education about our Orchid Display and how specialty groups like orchids work,” says Griffis. “It’s wonderful to think that so many people have encountered this vast course content

Illustration by Rebecca Clarke

“We’re taking our platform to the globe and leading the way in knowledge sharing for cultural institutions…”

—Matthew Ross, Director of Continuing Education, Longwood Gardens

and that I can have this kind of dialogue with them,” he continues. “The dynamic way participants can engage with this content is very exciting.”

Everything About Orchids was a mostly in-house and cross-departmental endeavor— an impressive feat given that it was our first such course. Longwood’s Education Department spearheaded the two-year journey to develop and implement the course—an endeavor that took thousands of hours. “In the case of this course, our own in-house experts themselves are the content providers, as opposed to having to hire outside content experts,” says Susan Caldwell, Longwood’s instructional designer and learning techniques manager.

Matthew Ross, Longwood’s director of continuing education, describes the level of coordination and cooperation for the course’s success as extremely detailed, right down to ensuring orchids were photographed at their perfect bloom time when preparing course content.

“Imagine trying to find a two-inch, summer-blooming native orchid in our 86-acre Meadow Garden, making sure the environmental conditions were perfect to shoot footage of the orchid,” says Ross.

“The course acts as a bridge. It provides a deeper experience for those who visit us here at the Gardens, as well as engages those who have never been here. It has opened up a dialogue between the two.”

Right on the heels of our Everything About Orchids success, Longwood’s second free online open course, Everything About Aquatics, is now available. Just like Everything About Orchids, Everything About Aquatics complements our seasons and collection, enables a flexible learning approach, and provides a pathway to future learning—much like Mr. and Mrs. du Pont’s encouragement for Jacoby to create an outstanding orchid collection, now shared with the world in a truly unique way.

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Education

Sensing Singapore As any keen traveler knows, the subject matter learning of a trip doesn’t stand alone. It is inextricably linked with the unique sensory experience of colors, smells, tastes, and sounds. Together, these travel experiences transform who we are as global citizens and stay in our memories.

In February and March of this year, I found myself on the other side of the world, in Singapore. I had the opportunity as a Longwood Fellow to become immersed in the work of the National Parks Board (NParks), continuing a legacy of exchange between Longwood Gardens and this famous city-in-a-garden’s parks department.

I chose Singapore, and NParks in particular, given my interest in the management practices of urban public gardens. I was honored to be offered a spot, or “attachment” as they called it, with the Horticulture and Community Gardening division to assist with master planning. For two months, the people there opened up their world to me, sharing not only their hospitality but their knowledge, experiences, and culture.

What follows are a few of my lessons learned from the vivid sensory experience that is Singapore.

This diverse city is home to six million people with roots in China, Malaysia, India, Europe, and many other places around the world. I later learned the extent to which Singaporeans value cultural preservation, and practice cultural cross-learning and tolerance. Language, food, dress, art, and music reflect the diversity of residents, and at times become blended and indiscernible in this model global community.

Right from the beginning, I embarked on a food adventure, pledging to eat something new each day. My Singaporean co-workers often ate lunch together at one of the hawker centers populated with small food stalls. They eagerly introduced me to one new food after another. By the end of the two months, they deemed it time I try

A Longwood Fellow shares planning (and life) lessons from a generous host garden in Singapore.

By Julia Thomé

the famously pungent durian. I liked it!

Food is a universal human connection point.

As I explored the city, through work and on my own, I saw that, in this densely urban city, biodiversity is getting a boost from the very deliberate proliferation of lush green walls and roofs, hundreds of kilometers of streetscape greeneries, and growing interest in plant cultivation, indoors and out. The city boasts 424 public parks and more than 1,300 community gardens in neighborhoods, schools, religious institutions, and businesses. You can see and smell gardens everywhere you go, which become exceptionally vibrant right after the rain. Gardens and green moments not only improve environmental conditions but make every day better for Singaporeans.

I learned that the HortPark campus in Singapore serves as a hub for the Horticulture and Community Gardening division and its programs—an education center and an incubator of new methods for expanding the benefits of Singapore’s gardens. Their vision that “everyone can garden” gave me hope that if this bustling, densely-populated city can garden with such vigor, so can other cities and towns around the world.

My subject learning involved observing what basic tenets NParks prescribes as integral to success. Charged with maximizing the ecological benefits of gardens while also prioritizing people and community-building, NParks integrates concepts of biodiversity, native plantings, pollinators, composting methods, and energy- and water-saving practices. The team focuses on education, practical training, and peer support for home gardeners and community gardeners, volunteer programs, and attracting younger generations to the gardening movement.

They are finding that linking gardening to good physical and mental health, nutrition, culinary arts, craftsmanship, visual and

performing arts, recreation, social interaction, cultural sharing, preservation, and new technologies are all important in bringing people on board, retaining interest, and ultimately improving and expanding green spaces. For all of this to be effective, research and dissemination of best practices are key to their planning strategy.

After all the sharing that had come my way, I did my best to chime in and share my ideas with the team. I surmised that with the strong desire to continue to build the gardening movement and to continue enriching the city-in-a-garden concept; with the team’s holistic approach to people and the environment and continued innovation; and with a willingness to invest in the future of the city, HortPark and Singapore will be something to watch (and smell, hear, touch and taste!) in the years ahead. Imagination, creativity, and collaboration happen when you fill your senses with the power of plants and the energy of passionate people.

What I learned through my field placement in Singapore is invaluable.

And that learning will, without a doubt, stick with me for many years to come, accompanied by the memories of pink bougainvillea, fragrant pandan plants, spicy noodles, and multilingual chatter.

Opposite: Photo gallery culled from Julia’s Longwood Fellows immersion in Singapore.

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The Arts

Pipe Dreams “This isn’t about performance, it’s about experience,“ explained Performance Supervisor Dwight Weaver as he welcomed the eager—and perhaps a little nervous— participants to Open Organ Console Day on April 7. Since 2015, Longwood has invited guests twice a year (in April and October) to sign up for a five-minute time slot to take The Longwood Organ on a test drive, so to speak, and see what it’s like to have the organ’s 10,010 powerful pipes at their fingertips. It has become a popular tradition, with available slots filling up quickly and attracting a diverse group of participants.

On this day, they came from as far away as Atlanta, Georgia; ranged in age from six years to well over 60; and possessed no musical training to more than 40 years of playing experience. Organist Rudy Lucente, a frequent performer on The Longwood Organ and Assistant Organist at the Grand Court Organ at Macy’s in Philadelphia, was on hand to assist the performers, suggesting which organ stops might sound best for their selected piece, setting those stops, and answering any questions the guest organists may have about the instrument to ensure they can make the most of their five minutes of fun.

Gus Goodwin, a self-described organ “hobbyist,” picked perhaps the perfect piece to start the day: Selections from The Sound of Music. As strains of Do-Re-Mi filled the Ballroom, the audience, which included fellow participants, supportive family and friends, and curious guests, settled in for a parade of musical moments to remember.

There was the Serbinenko family, including father Andrey, and brothers Julien and Remy, who all took a turn at the console.

Julien was celebrating his 8th birthday and happily fulfilling his birthday wish—to play The Longwood Organ. A piano student for two years, Julien played Domenico Zipoli’s Minuet. Was it the worth the trip from Morganville, New Jersey? “It was so great,” 12

Open Organ Console Day invites guests to try their hand at playing The Longwood Organ.

By Patricia Evans

Julien said with a huge smile, before heading off to 1906 for a celebratory birthday lunch with his family.

Bill Callaway journeyed the farthest— from Atlanta, Georgia—for the event. A church organist for more than 40 years, Callaway was not exactly new to The Longwood Organ, having performed a concert on the instrument in 1999. He recalled first hearing the organ in 1973 when he was a student at the Eastman School of Music, and then again on occasional visits over the years. “The organ has such a romantic and full-bodied sound,” Callaway enthused. To showcase that romantic sound Callaway selected a piece he knew would “work well”: Edward Lemare’s transcription of Camille Saint-Saens’ My Heart at My Sweet Voice from the opera Samson and Delilah.

Judging by the audience’s reaction, it certainly did work well.

Callaway was not the only one inspired by an early visit to Longwood. Savannah Jeffery, a 13-year-old from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, remembers her first visit to the organ museum sparking a desire to learn to play the King of Instruments. Now five years into her piano studies (as well as percussion for her school orchestra and band), Savannah’s organ journey will continue this summer when she plans to attend the Pipe Organ Experience Camp in Philadelphia. As for playing The Longwood Organ? “I’ll be back next year,” she said with a grin.

If there was an award for the most frequent Open Organ Console Day alum, it would go to 13-year-old Danny Murphy from Kennett Square, who has participated every year since the program began.

Murphy delighted the crowd with a rousing performance of his own organ transcription of Abe Holzmann’s Blaze Away. While Murphy studies piano, he was bitten by the organ bug after a trip to the Gardens with his grandmother. “I was just amazed with all

of the parts of the organ when I saw it,” he enthused. “I want to play everything.

There are endless possibilities to make interesting music.” Danny has not ruled out the possibility of pursuing music as a career, and judging by the audience’s response to his performance, he is already garnering fans.

Isaac Zerbey, who was proud to share he was “almost seven,” was the youngest participant of the day. He and brother Westen (8 years old) were both getting their first introduction to the organ, as neither had any previous musical experience. But what they lacked in experience, they made up for in enthusiasm. It was a bittersweet moment for the family, as father Jason shared that the boys’ mother had signed them up for the experience in early winter before passing away unexpectedly in February from complications from the flu. “This was one of the last things she signed them up for,” he said. Lucente created a magical moment for each of the boys, taking the lead in an impromptu and poignant duet of Over the Rainbow.

Westen declared the experience “really cool” and wondered if lessons might be in his future. Isaac, too, was thrilled with the experience. “It sounded like fun, but it was so much more fun than I thought,” he gushed. He also gave this advice to other potential players: “It looks very hard if you want to do it yourself.” But gave kudos to his playing partner, adding, “Mr. Lucente was very good.”

The day certainly was about experience— very good experiences indeed.

Right: Rudy Lucente shows Westen Zerbey (age 8) the finer points of organ performance.

Below: It was a family affair for the Serbinenko family. Father Andrey and sons Remy (left) and Julien (right) all took a turn on The Longwood Organ.

It was Julien’s wish to play the organ for his 8th birthday.

Above: Organist Bill Callaway journeyed from Atlanta, Georgia, for the chance to play The Longwood Organ.

Above: Jason Zerbey captures son Isaac (age 6) performing his first musical duet with Rudy Lucente.

Left: Savannah Jeffery (age 13) of Kennett Square performs Pachelbel’s Canon in D during Open Organ Console Day. Right: Danny Murphy (age 13) played the organ for the first time at Longwood and has returned every year to play in Open Organ Console Day.

Photography by Becca Mathias

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Features

Bonsai pruning, a slide scanned for Mary Allinson for her Bonsai pruning techniques class. Longwood Gardens Library & Archives.

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Legacy

In this second installment in our women in horticulture series, we focus on the efforts and leadership of those who followed in Alice du Pont’s footsteps.

By Lynn Schuessler

Making (and Breaking) the Glass Ceiling

Opposite: The Garden Path, which debuted in 1986, is a yearround tapestry of color, texture, form, and fragrance.

Landon Scarlett came up with the original design for the Garden Path, and graduate student Rob Halpern researched plants. Longwood Gardener Mary Allinson, photographed here in June 2018, tended the space for 27 years. Photo by Carlos Alejandro.

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Among the 125 staff horticulturists who dig in the dirt and delight with their designs at Longwood Gardens today, 56 are women.

In the age of Pierre S. du Pont (1870–1954) and in Longwood’s early years as a public garden, all the gardeners were men.

Then came Lucy Landon Scarlett, who, after earning a master’s in art history at Columbia University, longed to work with her hands amid the beauty and open space that inspired her as a child growing up by the Chesapeake Bay. She got her start at Bluemount Nursery in Maryland for $1.50/hour, crediting the “social openmindedness” of her Quaker employers for hiring a woman, and for putting her in touch with Richard Lighty—then Program Coordinator of the Longwood Graduate Program. It was 1969 and, with the Vietnam War calling many young men to the military, Scarlett landed a job in Longwood’s Experimental Greenhouse.

“I believe I was the second woman hired into one of these ‘non-traditional for women’ jobs at Longwood,” says Scarlett.

“I never gave much thought to the fact that I, as a woman, was an oddity among my peers. What we shared was an almost universal enthusiasm for Longwood and what it stands for. Gradually and together we managed to create beautiful and interesting things through our efforts.

And also gradually, more women were hired, which I took as a compliment.”

Energy and curiosity fueled Landon Scarlett’s early years at Longwood— observing plant evaluations in the Experimental Greenhouse; quizzing Longwood’s taxonomist, Dr. Donald Huttleston; absorbing “the craft and aesthetics of gardening” from Karl Grieshaber in the Rock and Heather Gardens; and spending a year at the 100-acre arboretum at Hillier & Sons Nursery in England. “Life was joyous!”

Scarlett returned to Longwood in 1972 amid great change and challenge. On her first day in her new position as Design Coordinator, she remembers standing in the “huge, empty void” of the newly rebuilt East Conservatory.

“Plants had been dug from the old Azalea House and stored in a cool holding house while the new structure was being built, so there were plants available for me ‘to arrange’ and a crew of willing guys standing around waiting for me to tell them where to place them. This was not at all like being a student at Hilliers! It was terrifying! But we survived.”

Not only did Landon Scarlett survive, she thrived—as did the Gardens—during her 20 years at Longwood, largely in planning and design. She is most proud of solving “the puzzle” that led to the creation of the Silver Garden and Cascade Garden.

“It began with the Advisory Committee’s request to bring the Acacia Passage back to its former glory,” says Scarlett. The acacias suffered from both the heat and shade of the tropical plants in the neighboring Geographic House. Meanwhile, the view down the Acacia Passage—its “borrowed scenery”— was of a utilitarian door in the Desert House, which itself had an uninspired “one of this and one of that” planting design and a “clumsy, exposed” roof.

In 1986, Scarlett had traveled to South Africa with Rick Darke, Curator of Plants.

“The visual impact of silver-foliaged plants in mountain passes and gardens made a huge impression.” Later, she saw many of those same plants exquisitely displayed in a private California garden designed by Isabelle Greene, who in time was invited to design Longwood’s Silver Garden, replacing the Geographic House in 1989.

Scarlett also traveled to Brazil to encourage Roberto Burle Marx to transform the Desert House into what would become the Cascade Garden—a project completed after Scarlett

“I believe I was the second woman hired into one of these ‘non-traditional for women’ jobs at Longwood,” says Scarlett. “I never gave much thought to the fact that I, as a woman, was an oddity among my peers. What we shared was an almost universal enthusiasm for Longwood and what it stands for.”

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Opposite: Staff photo of new Horticulture Department/ Experimental Greenhouse employee Lucy Landon Scarlett, September 15, 1969.

Photo by Gottlieb Hampfler.

Hampfler’s makeshift studio background can be seen in lower portion of the image; this would have been cropped out of the final headshot.

Original in Longwood Gardens Library & Archives.

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Not only did Landon Scarlett survive, she thrived—as did the Gardens—during her 20 years at Longwood, largely in planning and design. She is most proud of solving “the puzzle” that led to the creation of the Silver Garden and Cascade Garden.

The initial inspiration for the Silver Garden came from a trip Landon Scarlett made to South Africa in 1986 with Plant Curator Rick Darke.

There, they saw silver-foliaged plants in mountain passes. California designer Isabelle Greene—who had done a similar silver-foliaged garden in Santa Barbara that Landon had admired while on a Garden Club of America tour—was hired to transform the existing Geographic House into the Silver Garden, which opened in 1989. It recalls a desert stream bed with enormous boulders and a river of slate. Its 150 types of plants total several thousand blue, gray, and silver specimens. Photo

by Larry Albee.

Above: Section Head Dale Lauver (left) with Landscape Designer Isabelle Greene during restoration phase of the Silver Garden, 1988. Landon Scarlett noted recently that, at the time, “Inviting in such design outsiders to work in the conservatories was new for Longwood, and there was particular impetus to do the best we possibly could to have the project succeed.” Original in Longwood Gardens Library & Archives. Photo by Larry Albee.

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Below: Based on Landon Scarlett’s analysis, a recommendation was made to the Longwood Advisory Committee to transform the former Desert House into the Cascade Garden, which opened in 1992. Designed by the world-famous artist Roberto Burle Marx, who was assisted by landscape architect Conrad Hamerman, it is an artistic expression of elements found naturally in the tropics of South America. Original in Longwood Gardens Library & Archives. Photo by Larry Albee.

Right: Landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx (pictured in background, gesturing upwards) was persuaded to design the Cascade Garden by Landon Scarlett, who visited him in Brazil on Longwood’s behalf.

Here, Burle Marx discusses planting installations in the Cascade Garden with landscape architect Conrad Hamerman (at Roberto’s left, face partially obscured by leaf) and indoor display foreman Sharon Loving.

Sharon Loving recalls, “It was fun watching Roberto wave his arms as he painted this new house with plants. He was amazing! I actually communicated more with Conrad on the details of the project, and he was just as passionate about getting everything right. It was quite a team.” Original in Longwood Gardens Library & Archives.

Photo by Larry Albee.

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Left: Mary Allinson readies plants in the new Estate Fruit House in preparation for the October 18, 2002 opening. Allinson, a member of the Estate Fruit House Task Force, researched greenhouse fruits grown

by Mr. du Pont to develop the plant list for the display.

She assumed Section Gardener responsibility for the new display and directed the initial plantings. Photo

by Larry Albee.

Opposite: Mary Allinson interacting with a guest in the Bonsai Display, 2017. Photo by Carlos Alejandro.

left Longwood in 1989 to become Director of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanic Garden.

“And no one notices the ugly roof anymore, or the utilitarian door, only the beautiful plant shapes, colors and waterfalls. And I believe the acacias have thrived.”

“At Longwood anything is possible,” says Scarlett, mentioning the massive boulders that were scavenged (with permission) from a Pennsylvania field and lowered through the roof of the new Silver Garden. She reflects on the culture of excellence that drives even daily routine tasks. “We had a saying at Longwood in my day—The Queen is coming today, everyday—which meant that we had to be spruced up and ready for her arrival 365 days a year. A fine goal.”

For 35 years, Mary Allinson was one of the gardeners who made that goal a reality.

She studied to be an art teacher, but her first summer out of college found her working at Ashcombe Vegetable Garden in Mechanicsburg and loving it. There she met three alums of Longwood’s Professional Gardener Program, and in 1980 she became the first college graduate to enter the program. “I thought it would be a dream to work here,” she says.

That dream took shape in 1983, when Allinson landed a full-time job at Longwood tending bonsai. “When I started I was one 22

of only four women gardeners, but I never really noticed. I always had guy friends. I remember Bill Rigler and Curt Hawkins— they were like neighbors guiding me in the Conservatory spaces where we worked.”

As a gentle sign of the times, however, Allinson remembers working in the fruit house when a guest directed a horticulture question to one of the carpenters nearby, assuming he would be the expert. “I’ll have to refer that to Mary,” replied the carpenter, much to the older gentleman’s surprise.

Bonsai combined Allinson’s love of art and horticulture, but it would also require her teaching skills to preserve this craft at Longwood. Before she retired in 2017, Allinson instructed a pool of 15 staff members in techniques for training chrysanthemum bonsai, which are displayed during Chrysanthemum Festival. “Bonsai takes a little bit of time over time,” says Mary of the exacting skill and patience required. “The more you do something, the better you get.”

If bonsai is the collection that most bears Allinson’s touch, Christmas is the season that bears her “name.” Last November, just before packing up her Longwood career, Mary peeked into the Music Room to view the progress of the upcoming display. “It’s Mother Christmas!” came the familiar

“I loved coming to work.

I liked getting dirty.

Anyone can have a bad day anywhere, but guests, especially, always remind you what a wonderful place this is. Still, it’s a profession that takes knowledge and skill—and we try to convey that to people as well.”

—Mary Allinson

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Below: Sharon Loving watering the Nepenthes collection in one of the estate growing houses in 1984. ”I do miss taking care of plants on a regular basis,” Sharon said.

“These early jobs I had were important in learning the diversity of the plants, how the greenhouses work, and how much time certain jobs take.” Photo by Larry Clouser.

Above: Sharon Loving and garden host Ralph Snodsmith during a live interview on Good Morning America, 1994. Original in Longwood Gardens Library & Archives.

greeting—a testimony to her years of festive creations in that iconic space, which she worked on with Ed Broadbent from 1994 to 2010.

“Christmas has gotten so big, almost everyone works on it now. A few years ago we started mentor teams—for succession planning, so you don’t leave a hole when you’re gone. It’s like dipping your finger in a bucket of water,” says Allinson, who is remembered as much for the wisdom of her sayings as for the beauty of her displays.

“When you remove your finger, the water fills in. Life (and Longwood) carry on.”

“You have to let new people do their thing,” she says, crediting Landon Scarlett for being that kind of mentor. “She was the one who gave me free rein and helped me build confidence,” says Allinson, who worked with Scarlett and graduate student Rob Halpern to create the East Conservatory’s Garden Path in 1986.

While Scarlett came up with the original design and Halpern researched plants, Allinson tended this space —a task she loved—for 27 years. “It felt like my own home garden.”

Allinson admits to being a designer at heart. To this day she uses graph paper to get ideas down and to put things to scale, a quality that served her well when 24

working with Longwood craftsmen.

“The art of gardening requires a feel for color, texture, space—both negative and positive—to arrange things in a display.

Maybe being left-handed helps,” she says with a smile. “Left-handed people tend to be creative and good at math. And the world is mathematical.”

Looking back on her career, Allinson says, “I loved coming to work. I liked getting dirty. Anyone can have a bad day anywhere, but guests, especially, always remind you what a wonderful place this is. Still, it’s a profession that takes knowledge and skill—and we try to convey that to people as well.”

Mary Allinson set out to be an art teacher. And for 35 years, that’s exactly what she did, teaching the art of horticulture— from plant science and home gardening to the nitty-gritty of mini mums and the elegance of Christmas—to anyone willing to listen. She advises young gardeners to cultivate patience. “The opportunities are here to learn,” she says. “You’ll get out what you put in. A lot of things are worth waiting for.”

Sharon Loving’s pivotal moment in horticulture came as a not-so-subtle nudge from a mindful mom. As a senior in high school with plans to study business, Sharon

Below: Sharon Loving helped to lead a major expansion of the Meadow Garden in 2013–2014.

View of main entrance. Photo

by Sam Markey.

“When I started, there were only a handful of women working as front-line gardeners.

I know they had it tough, but they smoothed the path for the rest of us.”

—Sharon Loving, Vice President, Horticulture, Longwood Gardens

was engrossed in gardening around the house when her mother said, “You know, you could do this for a living.”

Those words pointed Loving to an associate degree in horticulture at the University of Maryland. She thought about building greenhouses with her father, but the 1970s energy crisis thwarted that idea; so she cultivated her skills at a Pennsylvania garden center and a Maryland flower shop before gathering the courage to apply at Longwood. Memories of childhood visits to the Gardens loomed so large that halfway through the application she froze, attached a résumé, and walked out.

Despite her initial fears, Loving’s dedication, enthusiasm, and attention to detail prevailed. In 1982, she started as a seasonal part-time Gardener; when winter came, Indoor Display Foreman Patrick Nutt packed up her tools and boots in a box and marked it “Do Not Touch”, confident that Sharon would be back in the spring.

Loving did indeed return, becoming a full-time Gardener in 1984. Working in each area taught her a broader palette of plants and how to cultivate greenhouse displays under glass. She was promoted to Indoor Display Foreman in 1992, Floriculturist in 1998, and to her present position as Department Head (now

Vice President) of Horticulture in 2005.

“When I started, there were only a handful of women working as front-line gardeners.

I know they had it tough, but they smoothed the path for the rest of us.”

Loving was reluctant, at first, to take on a management role. “I wanted to keep my hands on the plants, but it’s wonderful that I was able to start part time and rise through the ranks—it helps me understand the work of the front-line gardeners.”

She advises new staff to be open to possibilities, and strongly believes in professional development to retain top talent. “We started a two-year mentorship program within Horticulture that involves workshops and conversations about empowerment, leadership, time management, or whatever the participants feel they need.”

Succession planning is also a top priority, to pass along the unique skill sets of the horticulture team. Loving describes Chrysanthemum Festival, for example, as “the epitome of art and science on display.

It’s the most unique thing we do.”

Through the years, Loving has led nearly every department at Longwood, except Administration and Guest Services.

With her broad experience, longevity, and project leadership, including major renovations of the Ballroom, Music Room, 25

Children’s Garden, East Conservatory, and Meadow Garden, it’s not surprising that President & CEO Paul B. Redman initially chose Loving to help him lead the Main Fountain Garden revitalization project.

“I’m not sure I’m the right person,” she told him. “Sharon, I think you are the right person,” she remembers him saying.

“I need someone who understands the significance of this garden and how we can evolve it.” When the Main Fountain Garden went into schematic design, Loving was in charge of both the Horticulture and Facilities departments. But she was never happier than when Penny Person (Project Manager) and Ken Grablewski (Vice President, Facilities) came on board and brought the project to completion.

What’s next? “We have to work on the Conservatory complex, the western half of it—preserving what’s best and evolving the spaces to accommodate and engage our guests in a more meaningful way.”

Loving reflects on the Longwood aesthetic, passed down to her by Landon Scarlett and epitomized by Advisory Committee chairs Wilhelmina Ross and Peg Stabler.

“Longwood is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont—he was always trialing and testing and so should we. But when we’re doing it well, the Longwood aesthetic is timeless and elegant.”

Gazing further, Loving considers her impact 50 or more years down the road.

“With the capital projects, I’m focused on sustainability. We need to take a long-term view considering climate change and globalization. Many of our heritage trees are coming to maturity at once, so planning is key. We’re stewards of this garden for a short time. But how will our decisions today impact future generations of leaders and guests?”

One thing is certain. Among those leaders, there will be many capable women. Their story at Longwood began with Alice du Pont, and grew with each woman whose passion and skill for horticulture not only overshadowed any fears she might have felt, but ultimately forged an unbreakable bond with equally passionate colleagues, no matter the gender.

Sharon Loving looks out over the 86-acre Meadow Garden.

Photo by Carlos Alejandro.

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“We’re stewards of this garden for a short time.

But how will our decisions today impact future generations of leaders and guests?”

—Sharon Loving, Vice President, Horticulture, Longwood Gardens

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Legacy

Fountains of Knowledge Designing a spectacular fountain performance requires artistry, patience, and collaboration.

By Katie Mobley Photography by Daniel Traub

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Longwood’s fountain performance designers gather for a group portrait at the Main Fountain Garden’s Lower Canal. Pictured from left to right are: Brady Gonsalves, associate director, performing arts production; Tim Martin, Main Fountain Garden performance manager; outside consultant Greg McLenahan from Manchester, UK, who is with Entertainment Concepts, Ltd.; Colvin Randall, P.S. du Pont Fellow and fountain designer; and independent consultant Claire Kahn. Claire, who currently works as a jewelry designer and lives in Santa Fe, NM, was previously a designer at WET Design in Los Angeles, CA, where she collaborated on the creation of the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas.

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Opposite: Spectacular view of Over The Rainbow which debuted on September 16, 2017, in the revitalized Main Fountain Garden. The show was designed by Colvin Randall.

Below: Longwood’s three in-house fountain designers share a relaxed moment on the Terrace of the Rectangular Basin. Pictured from left to right are Colvin Randall, Brady Gonsalves, and Tim Martin.

From one self-taught fountain designer who worked by hand in 1980 to the many who now support one another to create cuttingedge performances, there’s no shortage of innovation and artistic finesse when it comes to Longwood’s expressive fountain performances. Our three in-house fountain designers—Brady Gonsalves, Tim Martin, and Colvin Randall—may each offer different aesthetic styles and backgrounds, but all work tirelessly and ingeniously to achieve a common design goal: to awe and inspire.

Longwood’s renown for exceptional fountains originates with our founder Pierre S. du Pont. From installing his first fountain within a year of his purchase of Longwood to his 1931 opening of the Main Fountains—his crowning achievement of lighting colored water—du Pont’s fascination with water stemmed from his travels as a young man.

Du Pont noted his wonder with such fountain displays as the shimmering 1893 World Columbian Exposition, which later inspired his own illuminated fountains that were manipulated via a lever control board of 226 toggle switches and 125 levers uniquely designed for Longwood by Phil Brewer, Longwood’s then head of maintenance.

It can be argued that Randall, Longwood’s P.S. du Pont Fellow and fountain designer, was himself uniquely designed for Longwood. He is the only Longwood fountain choreographer who has designed performances using three of the four

programming systems used, starting with the 1966 theatre board, then the 1984 computerized controls, and today’s cuttingedge Syncronorm computer program, a sophisticated system with three-dimensional visualization that allows a designer to view the show as it’s designed in real time.

Reminiscent of du Pont’s fascination with water, Randall’s lifelong captivation with fountains dates to his boyhood visits to Wanamaker’s with his family, where he watched the Dancing Waters fountains rising and falling to music. Randall researched the story of Longwood’s fountains as a Longwood Graduate Fellow before beginning his Longwood career in 1977 as public relations manager. Starting his work with the Longwood fountains in 1980, Randall devised a way to marry water, light, and music through a system of hand-drawn diagrams, lighting charts, and cue sheets, often drawn with colored markers.

Randall followed his successful diagram system until Longwood implemented its first fountain computer system in 1984, which required Randall to lay out new symbols for all the fountain features and effects. Randall keyed in the information from his handwritten diagrams and sheet music into the program, translating his commands into lines of code. Along the way, he developed several theories for designing fountain shows, including his credo to always end a show with the largest display possible.

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Relics from Fountains Past From the hand-controlled boards of Pierre du Pont’s time to the wizardry of today’s computers, the fountains at Longwood have responded to commands using varied technologies.

The items pictured here were used from 1980 until, in some cases, 2014.

Clockwise from top left: A black and white photocopy of the evening fountains was hand colored with magic markers to help design fountain color scenes from 1980 to 1983; all the commands from the Windows-based “System i” program used from 1984 to 2014 could be printed out on computer paper; large floppy disks were the storage medium for the first fountain computer from 1984 to 2001; a hand-rendered schematic showing the jets and color dimmers was used to orchestrate fountain colors from 1980 to 1983; reel-to-reel tapes provided music (starting in 1980) and computer data (beginning in 1984 through 2001) to run shows automatically after a technician pushed the “start” button; cue sheets were used from 1980 to 1983

by Longwood’s electricians to synchronize a show in real time to recorded music; endless tape cartridges were used from 1986 through 2001 to run Main Fountain Garden and Open Air Theatre fountain shows with total automation.

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“Collaboration comes in creating a larger concept for the fountain’s expression—a spirited, visual story—and implementing the concept through the collaboration of diverse disciplines,” shares Kahn.

Creating the most comprehensive fountain display possible was certainly top of mind when Longwood unveiled the revitalized Main Fountain Garden in May 2017. With 1,719 jets; 1,467 LED lights; and other astounding new and legacy features, today’s Main Fountain Garden features 8,676 controllable design attributes that a fountain choreographer must consider and address when designing a show. What’s more, Syncronorm allows for infinite light and water combinations—a boundless number that’s both exciting and daunting for even the most seasoned fountain designer.

While Syncronorm supports the Main Fountain Garden’s magnitude of attributes, the system is nothing without a steady hand and inquisitive mind to guide it. With so many variables to consider, fountain design demands unwavering dedication to detail when telling a story. Lucky for Longwood, we have Gonsalves, Martin, and Randall, who take our fountain performances to new 34

heights with the truly limitless possibilities afforded by their expertise and unique aesthetics, in tune with the vision of Longwood’s Performing Arts department.

Longwood’s fountain performances and Fireworks & Fountains Shows, in addition to indoor and outdoor concerts and events, all fall under the Performing Arts umbrella.

Together, these offerings showcase the variety of styles and genres in Longwood’s performing arts repertoire and demonstrate the “beauty of art in all its different forms … showing there’s truly something here for everyone,” shares Director of Performing Arts Thomas Warner.

Augmenting our three in-house designers’ breadth of knowledge is a team of Longwood electricians, plumbers, and technicians who support and maintain each show. Lead Performance Technician Joe Whitney, for one, utilizes his extensive technical and systems expertise while working closely with Gonsalves, Martin,

and Randall in their design efforts. In fact, Whitney has started designing daytime fountain show arrangements himself.

In addition to Longwood’s in-house team, consultants Claire Kahn, formerly of WET Design, and Greg McLenahan of Entertainment Concepts, Ltd., have helped expand our ideas of what a fountain show can achieve. “Collaboration comes in creating a larger concept for the fountain’s expression—a spirited, visual story—and implementing the concept through the collaboration of diverse disciplines,” shares Kahn. “Everything must work together seamlessly, from the larger conceptual vision to subtle details in timing and precise movement.”

While Gonsalves, Martin, and Randall take unique approaches to their designs, they look to each other’s philosophies and talents for inspiration and growth.

When approaching his designs, Randall flexes his self-taught practices and theories,

Fountain design consultants Claire Kahn (opposite) and Greg McLenahan (below) visited Longwood in June, 2018, to refine and collaborate on the Happy Birthday, Leonard Bernstein Fireworks & Fountains Show.

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Syncronorm: A Magnitude of Attributes The Syncronorm Depence fountain control system uses two screens to help the fountain designers create a show. The programming screen contains all the pump, jet, and light scenes shown to the left in a vertical column that scrolls up and down, listing hundreds of effects. In the middle are the show cues that scroll horizontally like a piano roll.

Using a computer mouse, the designer swipes the horizontal bars onto the screen; the length determines duration. Double-clicking on a bar permits adding more commands, like fade-in and fade-out times. Additional information appears on the right-hand side of the screen: everything from graphs showing motion effects to pump values and nozzle positions.

The visualizer is an adjoining screen that shows a realistic image of the garden with fountain jets and colors created by the cues on the adjacent screen. The designer can move the viewpoint up close or far away, up high or down low to give a realistic reproduction of the show as it is being created, including a video rendering of the complete show. Any modification can be done before the actual fountains are turned on and the show is tested. The visualizer is a great help to the designer in previewing what the show will look like, although additional tweaking is usually required once the real fountains are used.

Views of the Syncronorm programming screen (left) and visualizer screen (above), as seen in the Control Tower of the Main Fountain Garden.

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“I haven’t changed my theories with the addition of Syncronorm,” shares Randall.

“There’s just a lot more you can do now.”

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Anatomy of a Fountain Performance Over The Rainbow debuted as a fireworks show on September 16, 2017, and is periodically repeated as a fountains-only show.

Designed by Colvin Randall, it is the first Longwood fountain show that tells a complete story, albeit one that almost everyone knows. It starts with all-white, tornado-like fountains, which turn eyepopping colors once Dorothy and Toto land in Oz. Although the title song is never sung directly, whenever the Over the Rainbow theme appears, the fountains assume an asymmetrical rainbow spectrum that could never be achieved with the former lighting system; now, with 8000+ control channels, it’s an easy task. Other thematic colors appear during The Lullaby League and The Lollipop Guild. One large fan turns red whenever the Ruby Slippers are mentioned, and all green, with flames, is used for the Wicked Witch and also for the Wizard. Once Dorothy and Toto make it home to Kansas, it’s back to wholesome white.

using a “classic style closest to the original style du Pont had…building big compositions using the maximum amount of water in more static displays.” When Randall wrote his shows prior to the installation of the Syncronorm platform, he was able to visualize what the show would look like in his head while utilizing his design theories. “I haven’t changed my theories with the addition of Syncronorm,” shares Randall. “There’s just a lot more you can do now.”

Martin, Longwood’s Main Fountain Garden performance manager, builds upon his award-winning theater lighting and design career, as well as his college training in the Eastern arts, when designing a fountain show. Martin credits his success to “staying in the moment” and avoiding the temptation to “grasp too tightly to my initial plan or design notions.” When designing, he “starts gesturally and then expands the gesture into the space of the garden,” remaining flexible with his design, yet unyielding to his ability to “tell a narrative in water and color when the music tells a narrative.”

Gonsalves, Longwood’s associate director of performing arts production, employs his background in theatrical production when designing a show. A stage manager and show producer by trade, detail-oriented Gonsalves first learned the art of fountain design from Randall and follows his own love of the lyric to “create a narrative that can flow through from start to finish, using the lyrics, the cadence, and the rhythm to create an ebb and flow.”

Gonsalves constantly works to “push the envelope with lighting and play with water in new ways” for maximum impact, especially when creating swell in the fountains at the exact moment the music swells. Both Martin and Gonsalves build a show narratively in a three-act structure, with each third following its own arc and the entire show design following a larger, all-encompassing arc.

Flexibility is paramount in fountain design, as is the ability to tell a story through the union of light, moving water, and music—whether it’s wowing the audience with visuals to represent a classic story like The Wizard of Oz in Randall’s Over

the Rainbow or putting a new spin on a contemporary song, such as Gonsalves’ light chase effects through the round basins during his rousing Divas of Dance. All three designers note how the Main Fountain Garden’s sophisticated light saturation affords a phenomenal amount of detail, its robotic nozzles create wonderful texture, and its show-stopper Titan Air Nozzles and flame jets elevate fountain design to a new level, ultimately taking the design ideas they’ve had emblazoned in their minds for years and now making them a reality for all to enjoy.

Syncronorm has introduced new technology to Longwood and has opened new design doors for Longwood’s fountain choreographers—but by no means has it made fountain design a simple feat.

Randall, Martin, and Gonsalves individually spend up to 40 hours to design a single show and an additional 40 nighttime hours in the field, running live practice shows after Longwood has closed for the day, and then making necessary adjustments.

Syncronorm’s three-dimensional visualization capabilities are revolutionary but can’t replace the reality of watching and reworking a four-dimensional, real-time show in the Main Fountain Garden’s breathtaking setting while the rest of the Gardens slumber.

Randall, Martin, and Gonsalves all credit a successful fountain show to many design characteristics, but perhaps none so much as transition. Whether it’s the transition of one color into another hue, the closing of one song melding into another’s opening verse, or seamlessly shifting from one narrative to the next, every aspect of fountain design, every attribute, and every resulting performance must uphold a continual flow that is always pleasing and never jarring. With this dedication to flawless flow, art imitates life here at Longwood. From du Pont’s profound love of water, to the sharing of knowledge between our exceptional fountain designers, to our Main Fountain Garden of infinite possibilities, Longwood has adhered to one of Randall’s original design theories along every act of our fountain story: make a smooth transition from one piece to the next.

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Sustainability

Quest for Fire The use of prescribed ďŹ re in the Meadow Garden exempliďŹ es a natural progression in our land stewardship principles and practice.

By Tom Brightman and Erik Stefferud Photography by Hank Davis

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Intense flame and heat consume unwanted woody vegetation in the Meadow Garden.

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The evolution of land stewardship at Longwood during the past 40 years has a common thread—the use of controlled burning to help rejuvenate its native meadow plant communities and suppress unwanted woody vegetation that would quickly overrun the meadow. Practiced since the 1980s, prescribed burning is now a well-integrated component of our Soil to Sky Land Stewardship Plan.

Historically, meadows in the eastern US often burned naturally as a result of lightning storms or lighting by Native Americans, in order to maintain plant communities to help them manage large areas for game animal populations.

Fire helps rejuvenate vegetation, which in turn benefits wildlife for a healthier, more diverse, and functioning ecosystem.

It also helps control the encroachment of woody plant species, the absence of which largely helps define the meadow plant community. Left untouched, the meadow landscape would follow a gradual and natural succession to forest, due to our annual rainfall amounts that generally support our deciduous Piedmont forest ecosystem. Prescribed burning also helps control invasive non-native plant species as many of these do not have the resistance to fire that many of our native meadow plant species possess.

Furthermore, the fire helps remove the buildup of the thatch layer of dead vegetation and improves the release of nutrients from dead plant material so that it can be recycled through the meadow ecosystem. These elements, combined with warmer soil temperatures—as the fire-blackened soil retains heat well— improve germination of certain native plants and the renewal of the meadow.

Although the burn temporarily makes the meadow look like a black lunar landscape, it isn’t long before the shoots come alive

Left: Burn crew deploys from the Webb House.

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Left: Prescribed burn crew members listen intently as Erik Stefferud discusses the day’s operational plan with Shannon Henry (Burn Boss), and Leonard Sitlinger (Ignition Boss) from Silvix, Longwood’s prescribed burn consultants.

Pictured from left to right are Joe Thomas, Colin McCallumCook, Tom Brightman, Will Shelton, Phil Watts, Bingyu Li, Eric Palmer, Ed Kane, Leonard Sitlinger, Benny Rigoroso, Erik Stefferud, Shannon Henry, Tim Erdmann, Kevin Popowich.

Above: Crew checks that Indian tank bladder bags are ready to go for the day’s work.

Left: Highly orchestrated and trained Longwood staff mobilize for the next burn unit. From left to right are Tim Erdmann, Ray Carter, Christine Varga, Kevin Popowich, and Benny Rigoroso.

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Crew member begins drip torch firing operations.

Opposite: Ed Kane burns out a section of heavy brambles.

and vibrant green spikes of vegetation begin to push their way through the black sooty surface, usually by mid- to late April.

Longwood carries out the use of fire in a controlled manner within appropriate safety “prescriptions� to achieve specific ecological goals for the landscape. We follow the PA Prescribed Fire Standards, which are established, detailed requirements governing the planning and procedures for a controlled burn within the state of Pennsylvania.

The Standards are in place to ensure every burning operation has the correct equipment, enough trained personnel, and a proper smoke management plan.

We consider all influences like wind, relative humidity, temperature, slope/ aspect, and fuel moisture while meeting the stewardship objectives and conducting a safe burn. Burns are typically conducted in the late winter/early spring, as there is only about a three-week window in any given year when appropriate plant and ground moisture levels are suitable to conduct a safe burn. We burn only about 30% of the entire Meadow Garden to ensure that sufficient areas of standing vegetation remain for insect and animal habitat until the meadow fully regrows later in the spring. We burn the various 44

burn units on a rotational basis from year to year to help sustain ecological processes.

Keeping the fire under control and managing the safety of people and nearby roads and buildings is a challenging operation. Each staff member involved in controlling the burn is trained in wildland firefighting, wildland fire behavior, and physical fitness. Safety equipment is required, and weather conditions have to be just right. Ideally, a steady light wind blowing from a consistent direction is best to direct the fire and smoke in the prescribed manner.

The potential characteristics of the fire’s behavior also need to be carefully monitored by recording the relative humidity and fuel moisture levels before ignition and during operations. The fire is initially started in a selected location so that it will burn into the wind to help reduce the spread and rate of the fire.

Fires are then started in multiple places around the edges of the burn unit, so that the various fires will eventually meet in the middle and burn themselves out when all of the natural fuel is exhausted.

We use water tanks to water down fire break areas both before and during the operation to control the direction and spread of the fire.

Practiced since the 1980s, prescribed burning is now a well-integrated component of our Soil to Sky Land Stewardship Plan.

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Erik Stefferud uses a drip torch to begin burning woody vegetation on a steep slope in Burn Unit 8, west of the Webb Farmhouse.

Fire helps rejuvenate vegetation, which in turn beneďŹ ts wildlife for a healthier, more diverse, and functioning ecosystem.

Opposite: Fire sweeps through the Meadow Garden. Bluebirds and tree swallows are not nesting in their boxes at this time of year, but will return in April to find lush vegetation full of insects to feed their young—one example of how prescribed burns help our native bird species thrive.

Right: Crew uses mobile RTV spray tank to diminish flame heights along trail edge.

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Intense fire and smoke in Burn Unit 4, west of the old Route 52 corridor, showcases the power of fire as a land stewardship tool.

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Although the burn temporarily makes the meadow look like a black lunar landscape, it isn’t long before the shoots come alive and vibrant green spikes of vegetation begin to push their way through the black sooty surface, usually by midto late April.

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Our fire program has been supported both internally at Longwood and through collaboration with other partner institutions such as the Delaware Nature Society, Flints Woods Preserve, Mt. Cuba Center, The Nature Conservancy, and Winterthur. These relationships have been instrumental in sharing trained and qualified personnel to assist with prescribed fire activities among the properties. Each year, members of each institution’s fire crews help one another with their burns. Collectively among our six organizations there are now more than 25 trained and qualified personnel with a combined 100-plus years of prescribed and wildland fire fighting experience. Several individuals. including Longwood’s Land Stewardship Technician Erik Stefferud, have taken on western US wildfire assignments, and this training has been key in evolving this institutional collaboration.

Each member of Longwood’s prescribed fire crew (currently Tom Brightman, Calvin Cooper, Tim Erdmann, Ed Kane, Colin McCallum-Cook, Kevin Popowich, Benny Rigoroso, Will Shelton, Erik Stefferud, Seth Strickland, Joe Thomas, and Phil Watts)

has received extensive training through the Bureau of Forestry, Division of Forest Fire Protection program, in multiple disciplines including firing operations, holding tactics, the Incident Management System, and advanced chainsaw use. While most of these trainings are tailored toward wildland fire fighting, the concepts and tactics used for controlling a wildfire and keeping a prescribed fire within its boundaries are almost identical.

As the program continues to expand and grow, our staff continues to build their experience through further education in prescribed fire via formal certificate courses and hands-on experience. All our staff can work, watch, and understand fire effects and fire behavior across different fuel types, terrain, and weather conditions—this capability allows us to grow as an organization and share our intellectual capital more widely. We have also trained numerous Professional Gardener students and interns, so that they can add to their suite of skills as they develop into the next generation of land stewards and prescribed fire practicioners.

Above: The use of prescribed fire can be an incredibly precise process when coordinated and implemented well. Burn Unit 4 stands complete as adjacent area awaits a burn in future years as part of our rotational process. No more than 30% of the Meadow Garden is mowed or burned in any given year to allow for standing vegetation and wildlife habitat year-round.

Right: Ed Kane extinguishes hotspots on edge of Burn Unit 8, as Eric Palmer acts as spotter.

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End Notes

All in the Family

Above: Night Gardener John Johnson, photographed in the Exhibition Hall on June 15, 2018, as he neared the end of his 33-year tenure at Longwood. Photo by Daniel Traub.

Opposite: (clockwise from top left) Longwood Fire Company members, including Frank Johnson, following the rescue of a swimmer, circa 1930s.

Johnson appears in lower right; Roy Johnson (center) in Longwood’s Potting Shed, circa 1929; Roy Johnson at time of his retirement, 1962. Russell Seibert, Longwood’s Director, presents John Johnson with a silver bowl upon his retirement, 1966; John Johnson staff portrait, 1964. Originals in Longwood Gardens Library & Archives. Photo by David Ward.

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Commemorating the Johnson family’s 100-year legacy of service and commitment.

By David Sleasman

Longwood Gardens is sometimes referred to as a family to convey the deep connections among the staff, students, and volunteers.

The word family implies the collective connection to this place and its history extending back to the founders—Pierre and Alice du Pont. Frequently these connections go beyond friendly coworkers and become familial. Staff encourages other family members to apply for jobs and, sometimes, a family unit has formed here as friendships grew into love, marriage, and children.

Over time multiple members of the same families began to work here. Bottomley, Coyle, Greeley, Miller, Pyle, Rimmer, and Irvin are only a few of the names that have contributed to the estate, Longwood Farms, and eventually Longwood Gardens.

The Johnson family is remarkable in this respect because of its longevity and commitment. Its connections to Longwood extend directly to working for the du Ponts as part of the estate. The first members of the Johnson family began working on the property in 1919. Longtime readers of The Chimes may recognize the Johnson family stories from earlier articles in Issues 270 (March–April 2008) and 271 (May– June 2008). For 100 years the family has contributed to the building of Longwood.

Altogether the family staff members— Frank, Roy, John M., J. Wiley, Lewis, Dick, Joe, and John—represent an unequaled contribution in terms of years of service to the organization. The Johnsons are as tied to the creation, development, and culture of Longwood as any member of the Longwood community.

In the coming months, the long history of the Johnson family at Longwood will come to an end. Night Gardener John Johnson will retire after more than 33 years of service.

He joined Longwood in 1984 as a part time Security Officer, then became a part time Night Gardener in 1995, before joining full time in 1997. “The night gardeners allow the

rest of the Longwood staff to sleep at night” says Shawn Kister, Director of Grounds.

This small team is part horticulturist, part security, part holder of obscure Conservatory knowledge, part first responder, and must always be 100% vigilant to keep Longwood safe and its plant life healthy. (For more on the role of night gardeners, see Issue 291.)

With John’s retirement, Longwood finds itself without a member of the Johnson family for the first time in a very long while.

John and his family have contributed to the Longwood community in other ways as well. The Longwood Fire Company was formed by Mr. du Pont in 1921 to protect the property and neighboring community, and Longwood staff has volunteered from the beginning. John has been a member of the Longwood Fire Company for 42 years, including serving as Chief from 1985–1987 and Chief Engineer for the past four years. John has said he will miss the camaraderie, challenge, and excitement.

John’s grandfather, John M., and father, Joe, were also members and shared John’s passion for community service. Joe was a Longwood Fire Company member for more than 60 years and served as Chief in the 1970s.

The Johnson family has contributed much toward the evolution of the Longwood family while they grew their own families and, along the way, extinguished a few fires—both literally and figuratively. Over time they have shared their memories of Mr. and Mrs. du Pont and Longwood with the Archives, where their stories will remain even as their long tenure as members of the Longwood family ends.

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Longwood Chimes

No. 297 Summer 2018

Front Cover Blueprint of walkway slate pattern for the Silver Garden, concept rendering

by Isabelle Greene & Associates, 1988. Original in Longwood Gardens Library & Archives; Orchid Phragmipedium (Andean Fire).

Photo by David Ward.

Back Cover (left to right) Longwood Gardens director Fred Roberts, curator of plants Rick Darke, and Silver Garden landscape designer Isabelle Greene, in the new Silver Garden, 1988.

Photo by Larry Albee.

Inside Covers Open Air Theatre Fountain Control Board, 1986–2010.

In 1986, computer control was added to the Theatre fountains to permit sophisticated fountain and lighting effects synchronized to music. This control board was used from 1986 until 2010 to run those fountains, in conjunction with the computer. The colored sliders controlled the lights, and the black sliders and white square buttons controlled the jets and valves. Hand control is most frequently used when combining fountains with live performers on the stage; for stand-alone fountain shows, it is preferable to design the show in advance and let the computer run it automatically.

Since 2010, a more modern, off-the-shelf lighting console has been adapted to run the Open Air Theatre fountains by hand when desired. Photo

by Daniel Traub.

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Editorial Board Marnie Conley Patricia Evans Steve Fenton Julie Landgrebe Katie Mobley Colvin Randall Noël Raufaste David Sleasman James S. Sutton Matt Taylor, Ph.D. Brian W. Trader, Ph.D.

Contributors This Issue Longwood Staff and Volunteer Contributors Kristina Aguilar Plant Records Manager Tom Brightman Land Steward Hank Davis Volunteer Photographer Becca Mathias Volunteer Photographer Maureen McCadden Digital Resource Specialist Erik Stefferud Land Stewardship Technician Judy Stevenson Archivist David Ward Volunteer Photographer Other Contributors Larry Albee Photographer Carlos Alejandro Photographer Rebecca Clarke Illustrator Rebecca Ralston Writer Lynn Schuessler Copywriter, Writer Julia Thomé Longwood Fellow Daniel Traub Photographer

Distribution Longwood Chimes is mailed to Longwood Gardens Staff, Pensioners, Volunteers, and Gardens Preferred and Premium Level Members, and is available electronically to all Longwood Gardens Members via longwoodgardens.org.

Longwood Chimes is produced twice annually by and for Longwood Gardens, Inc.

Contact As we went to print, every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of all information contained within this publication. Contact us at chimes@longwoodgardens.org. © 2018 Longwood Gardens.

All rights reserved.

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“What we shared was an almost universal enthusiasm for Longwood and what it stands for. Gradually and together we managed to create beautiful and interesting things through our efforts.”

—Landon Scarlett, Design Coordinator, Longwood Gardens, 1972–1989

Longwood Gardens is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont, inspiring people through excellence in garden design, horticulture, education, and the arts.

Longwood Gardens P.O. Box 501 Kennett Square, PA 19348 longwoodgardens.org

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