This year the Philadelphia International Flower Show produced by The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), America's first horticultural institution, will showcase plants from around the world in the 2010 show “Passport to the World.” A special exhibit called the "Explorers Garden" will greet guests to the show, and will capture the spirit and adventure of early plant exploration. For the "Explorer’s Garden," Longwood is forcing its signature Victoria ‘Longwood Hybrid’ water-platters into bloom.

Longwood Gardens established hardiness trials and a breeding program in the early 1960’s to evaluate and develop camellias that can tolerate colder winters. These efforts have lead to the release of two of the hardiest Camellias ‘Longwood Centennial’ and ‘Longwood Valentine’. As Camellia breeding and hardiness evaluation continue at Longwood Gardens, the selection of commercially available hardy camellias will increase.

In March, our staff found a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers excavating a nest cavity in a large dead tree. We were lucky enough to capture the event on film and have been watching (and filming) their nesting habits ever since.

In late winter and spring, your Clivia may be displaying some beautiful fruit. Clivia with yellow flowers will produce yellow fruit, while Clivia with orange flowers will produce red fruit. The fruit is actually a berry that contains seeds inside. If your Clivia did not produce fruit this year, it may not have been pollinated. Pollination is a simple act that is accomplished by taking ripe pollen that sheds easily from the anthers onto your finger or a Q-tip, and placing it on the stigma.

The start of another waterlily season brings with it great anticipation as we began this week to uncover the pools. But is this ritual of uncovering the pools really the start of another season?  No!  Several activities have already started to take  place behind-the-scenes in preparation for the opening of the display.