We took a day trip from Maryland up to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

Longwood Gardens is one of those places I’ve always known about growing up. My family would often drive up to the suburbs of Philadelphia to go see my father’s relatives from Iran, and we would drive past Longwood Gardens each time. My mother would always point it out, and say we needed to go.

At the time of typing this, I’ve been about three times. The first time I went was during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we felt like we needed to get out of the house. No one was really traveling at that point, but Longwood Gardens was open with time tickets.

The second time I went with my family again, years later. A reoccurring theme when it comes to my family is that wherever we go, we tend to end up at some sort of garden. Whether it’s Hawai’i or Los Angeles, we tend to find the nearby garden and it always happens to be one of our favorite places.

This time, in June 2024, I wanted to show my friend the gardens. She had never heard of it, so I told her she would love it and we planned a day trip. I bought the tickets online, she drove.

Here’s how we spent the day.

We stopped in Perry Hall, Maryland, for some good Mexican food and lunch.

At around lunch time on the day we were going to the garden, my friend pulled up so we could drive. We had wanted to try out R&R Taqueria in Perry Hall, which I had been to in the past. My family used to always go there until one day we had a spat with the lady up front, which led to us stopping our visits there.

However, time heals all wounds, and I ordered a California Burrito. That burrito is delicious, and they stuff it with French fries. I also got a side of chips and queso, and my friend ordered some tostadas. We both loved our food there, and we were stuffed by the time we were rolling back out into the car.

From Baltimore, it took about an hour and a half to reach Longwood Gardens. It’s a pretty smooth drive, and just basically straight up the way up. If you want to take the scenic route on the countryside, which is what my family does, you can, but this time we didn’t do that.

If you want a solid lunch around the garden, check out the main street of Kennett Square. We went on a food tour there once, and there are so many great options. One of my favorites is the Latinx ice cream shop—try the corn ice cream with some spices sprinkled on top!

Longwood Gardens is a place to unwind and escape from the hustle and bustle.

You could truly spend an entire day in Longwood Gardens. I always said that if I lived closer, I would just get a membership and read there sometimes if it isn’t hot. In the summer it might get a little toasty to walk around and lounge on the grass, but during the fall and spring it’s not only gorgeous, but they put up lights as the holidays get closer.

We started our journey through the gardens by turning left from the entrance. This leads to the clock tower that has a bell that goes off every hour, as well as some of the back gardens. We began wandering through some of those back gardens, and sat with some Amish girls reading around a fountain for a bit.

Then we turned back around the tower and headed towards the main fountain area. This has shows every hour or so (correct me if I am wrong), and we stopped to watch some of the fountains go off from the big fountain at the top of the hill. After that, we wandered into the mini museum on the fountain pipes, then up the next hill into the greenhouse and indoor section.

The greenhouse and indoor section tends to be one of my favorites usually, but this time it was under construction. We didn’t spend a ton of time in there, and then we headed back out into the back sections. There’s a little hike and treehouse in the very back corner of the gardens, and we did the covered tree part for a bit.

We would’ve done the meadow hike if it wasn’t so hot. Maybe if it wasn’t summer—I’ve never done the meadow hike in my time going to these gardens, and I would like to do it eventually. It’s on my list.

It feels interesting to summarize all of this up so neatly—we were at the gardens for about four and a half hours, and we still didn’t see everything. We looped around the other sections after we went to the meadow and forest portion, but there are some parts I remember not going to this time, such as the roses.

I’d love to go back—with extra water and food next time.

It was fascinating to go during a different season to Longwood—certain flowers and bushes only bloom at certain times, and I have only been in the spring before. I do think the spring is a better time to go, as well as when the leaves are starting to turn orange in the fall, but I enjoyed this trip as well.

I want to go back already! I just wish the gardens were a bit closer. I personally do not like driving that far, but I appreciate when other people are willing to step up. I usually compensate by buying lunch or something for them.

If I went in the summer again, I would bring more water. I was parched by the time we got through the entire garden section, and we made it into the cafe just around its closing time. I found a free water fountain while we were in there, and I was so dehydrated I was guzzling it.

There are also places to picnic in the gardens, so that’s on my bucket list as well! But seriously, if you’re into gardens and nature, you’d love it here.

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