Wildlife Tree at Longwood Gardens

It’s not just people who get to enjoy Christmas at Longwood Gardens. The volunteers and staff create an amazing tree every year for the local wildlife. The tree is usually located outside the du Pont house – and is covered with ornaments that the birds, squirrels and other wildlife will find tasty! It’s always great fun to see the birds flying in for a quick bite to eat from one of the ornaments!

Here are a few of my photos of this year’s wildlife tree.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins
© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

Christmas at the du Pont House at Longwood Gardens

Every year, one of my favorite Christmas displays at Longwood Gardens is the one at the du Pont House. This was the du Pont family home on the estate. The original house was built in the 1730′s by Joshua Peirce. By the time, Pierre du Pont purchased the property in 1906, the house had been significantly expanded. He further expanded the house and added a conservatory between 1906 and 1914. Today the building is used for the Longwood Heritage Exhibit which provides information about the du Ponts and the history of Longwood Gardens. For the holidays, the du Pont is decorated with more traditional decorations than those in the main conservatory. It reminds me of that idealistic view of an old-fashioned Christmas – total fantasy – and always wonderful.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

The Music Room Tree at Longwood Gardens

I’ve recently made a couple of trips up to Longwood Gardens to this year’s A Longwood Christmas display. Every year – I think there’s no way they’re going to do a more amazing display than last year – and every year – the incredible garden and design staffs at Longwood prove me wrong!

One of my favorite sets of decorations this year are in the Music Room in the Conservatory. There is an entire gingerbread theme to this year’s display – and no where is it more evident than in the Music Room. In addition to a couple of spectacular gingerbread houses, and a train going through a sugar wonderland – the tree is spectacular. It’s a huge rotating tree – with gingerbread and candy shaped decorations. Here are some of my photos of the tree and it’s adorable ornaments.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

© 2011 Patty Hankins

I’ll be posting more of photos from the 2011 Longwood Christmas display in the coming days – I hope you enjoy them!

Christmas at Longwood Gardens

One of my favorite places to visit in December is Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Each year they create an elaborate Christmas fantasyland in the Conservatory and on the grounds of the gardens. I thought I’d share some of my photos of the Longwood Christmas 2010 display with you today – on Christmas Day. It seems like the perfect day to share the beauty of their incredible Christmas displays.

Tree in the East Conservatory – a 25 foot Douglas Fir tree decorated with 200 red begonias

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

One of the trees in the Organ room. The day I visited Rudolph Lucente was playing the wonderful Longwood organ.

 

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

The Exhibition Hall tree is a 25 foot Douglas Fir decorated with preserved hydrangeas and surrounded by White Star poinsettias

 

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

The Mediterranean Garden tree is surrounded by lavender and decorated with lavender scented ornaments.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

At the Dupont House, the tree was decorated with pastel ornaments in shades of pink and blue. The decorations on the tree were amazing.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

The Wildlife Tree is always one of my favorites. The tree is designed to provide an all you can eat buffet for the local wildlife. From what I could tell – the squirrels really liked the ornaments this year. Fortunately, the Longwood staff keeps the tree well-supplied with ornaments.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I hope you’ve enjoyed my photos from this year’s Longwood Gardens Christmas display. If you celebrate Christmas – I’d like to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas!

A Charlie Brown Christmas Parade in Holbrook, Arizona

On my recent trip to Arizona and New Mexico I participated in a Route 66 photographic workshop organized by Alain and Natalie Briot. We started the workshop in Gallup, New Mexico and photographed attractions on and near Route 66 as far west as Hackberry, Arizona. This was unlike any photo trip I’d been on before – I photographed everything from dinosaurs to wigwams to old cars to the Grand Canyon. I actually took alot of photos with my Graflex Crown Graphic camera using Fuji Instant film. I thought an old camera and instant film was perfect for capturing the spirit of Route 66.

The trip was great fun. I’ll be posting some of the photos from the trip in coming weeks – and you’ll see – it was completely different from my usual style of photographing!

One of the unexpected photo opportunities of the trip was the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Parade in Holbrook, Arizona. As we pulled into town – all of us on the trip were trying to figure out why there were so many cars parked along the sides of the road – and families clearly waiting for something. It didn’t take long for us to find out what was going to be starting in just a few minutes – the town’s annual Christmas Parade. It was a classic small town parade – with the high school marching band, floats sponsored by local businesses and families – and of course Santa Claus on a fire truck at the end of the parade.

Here are a few of my photos from the parade – I hope you enjoy them.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Navajo County Sheriff’s Office float

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Holbrook Head Start Program’s float

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

National Park Service float

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

And of course – the jolly old elf himself – Santa Claus!

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

 

New Photo: Ice Punch Poinsettia

Ice Punch Poinsettia (c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I’ve recently added a new photo –  Ice Punch Poinsettia – to my Beautifulflowerpictures.com website.

Ice Punch Poinsettia is the fourth in a series of four poinsettia photographs that I am introducing this fall. Even before I saw the identification tag for this poinsettia, the red and white patterns reminded me of the patterns ice makes as water freezes. Ice Punch Poinsettia is one of the most dramatic flowers I’ve had the chance to photograph.

This photograph is available as a 10X10″   gallery-wrapped canvas.  You can order Ice Punch Poinsettia from my website and I will have it available at shows in October and November this year.

New Photo: DaVinci Poinsettia

DaVinci Poinsettia (c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I’ve recently added a new photo –  DaVinci Poinsettia – to my Beautifulflowerpictures.com website.

DaVinci Poinsettia is the third in a series of four poinsettia photographs that I am introducing this fall.  I love all the shades of pink in DaVinci Poinsettia. The soft colors and dappled patterns create a beautiful look for the holidays.

This photograph is available as a 10X10″   gallery-wrapped canvas.  You can order DaVinci Poinsettia from my website and I will have it available at shows in October and November this year.

New Photo: Monet Twilight Poinsettia

Monet Twilight Poinsettia (c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I’ve recently added a new photo –  Monet Twilight Poinsettia – to my Beautifulflowerpictures.com website.

Monet Twilight Poinsettia is the second in a series of four poinsettia photographs that I am introducing this fall.  The red and white color patterns in these flowers were amazing. They really did look like an impressionist painting. It’s easy to see why it was named in honor of Monet’s paintings.

This photograph is available as a 10X10″   gallery-wrapped canvas.  You can order Monet Twilight Poinsettia from my website and I will have it available at shows in October and November this year.

Outdoor Christmas Decorations at Longwood Gardens

Here are the final few photos I took of the wonderful Christmas decorations at Longwood Gardens. There was a lot of snow on the ground which made getting to and photographing some of the decorations a bit of a challenge.

In front of the Dupont House, there are several trees decorated to please the local birds. While I was photographing the Wildlife Trees, I saw numerous birds stopping by for a quick snack.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here’s one of the Junco’s enjoying a treat.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

One of the highlights of the Christmas decorations at Longwood is the reindeer in the Topiary Garden. This year, the reindeer are decorating the Christmas trees.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Christmas at Longwood Gardens runs through January 10 so I’m hoping to make one more visit to the wonderful displays before it comes down.

A Few More Longwood Gardens Christmas Trees

Every year, Longwood Gardens has a number of spectacular Christmas trees on display. They are themed to match the various sections of the gardens. Here are a few more of the trees featured in the 2009 Longwood Christmas

The Silver Garden Tree

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

One of the Cascade Garden Trees – created from bromeliads and other tropical plants.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Even the Kitchen Garden has a tree this year – made from decorative kale

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And finally the tree at the Dupont House – which sets the theme for all the wonderful decorations at Dupont House.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’ll post photos of a few of the outdoor decorations tomorrow.