Kennett Square

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Nearly 2,000 amateur and professional gardeners are expected to participate in the Spring Continuing Education Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa.The program runs from Jan. 22 to July 19, offering the public a variety of courses, evening lectures, garden tours and workshops in the magnificent horticultural environment of the former estate of Pierre S. du Pont.A detailed brochure is available by calling (610) 388-1000, Ext. 516.

A Celebration of Trees brightens the holiday season at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., every day through Jan. 1. Floral trees made from cyclamen, dusty miller, stevia and other plants bloom above a sea of red and white poinsettias in the East Conservatory while trees decked in ornaments and dried flowers offer a dazzling display in the Longwood Ballroom.Outside, 400,000 lights sparkle in treetops, and the Open Air Theatre fountains perform to holiday music every half-hour between 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (weather permitting)

Catch fish, raise cattle, farm tomatoes. We generally have some idea how most of our food starts out.But how do you grow a fungus? On purpose, mind you. The stuff in the back of the refrigerator doesn't count.The mysteries of mushroom farming -- it's nothing like Old MacDonald -- are revealed at the Phillips Mushroom Museum, just off the main road through Kennett Square, Pa., west-southwest of Philadelphia, in southeastern Pennsylvania.This is mushroom country, obvious on a warm day to even the most clogged nose.

Amid the hustle and bustle of the holidays you can find a quiet oasis at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., where an an old-fashioned garden blooms inside the conservatory. Here you can take a peaceful stroll through acres of brilliant poinsettias and fragrant Christmas flowers, attend a holiday concert, and, if you stay until dark, you will see thousands of lights twinkling down from the trees and dancing in fountains outside. The holiday display, "A Christmas Past," is on view daily -- including Christmas -- through New Year's Day.The trappings of the old-fashioned garden include wrought-iron gazebos, rustic benches, tiered fountains, cast-iron urns and other period garden ornaments, many of which are on loan from the Smithsonian Institution.

The shady nooks and cooling fountains at Longwood Gardens near Kennett Square, Pa., make the gardens a perfect retreat from summer's withering heat. Now -- and through Sept. 29 -- Longwood is presenting the 1994 Festival of Fountains, the annual summer celebration of water, flowers and music.Three fountain gardens have water displays during the day. At the Main Fountain Garden, fountains run continuously from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Half-hour illuminated musical displays are presented on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights during the summer, beginning at dusk.

Easter means sunrise services, fragrant flowers, music, egg hunts and baskets filled with surprises. Fun for the whole family takes place at Winterthur Museum and Gardens near Wilmington from noon to 3:30 p.m. Activities focus on nature: The Delaware Nature Society will be there to tell you about local wildlife and animals, and an insect zoo will be brought from the Brandywine Zoo. An interactive play is scheduled at 1:30 p.m., and you can join the Easter...

If you're tired of snow, sleet and frigid temperatures and can't afford a jaunt to the Caribbean, take a trip up U.S. 1 to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa. There you can "Welcome Spring." The current garden display is a reminder that more agreeable days are ahead.The display, with its acres of colorful blooming bulbs, opened yesterday and continues through April 30. About 45,000 daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, lilies and other spring favorites create a panorama in pastel. In addition, acacia blossoms offer a touch of gold in January and February; in March, cymbidium orchids are the featured attraction; and in April, the gardens are filled with the heady scent of Easter lilies.

This week would be a good time to catch up on some of the many holiday events that were missed in the mad rush to Christmas.One feast for the eyes is the holiday display at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., on view though Jan. 3. It's a wonderland of brilliantly colored poinsettias, sparkling Christmas trees and glittering lights. This year's exhibit celebrates "Nature's Christmas," with the conservatories transformed into a woodland setting filled with rabbits, beavers, deer and other forest creatures made of grapevines, dried flowers and other natural materials.

The Chrysanthemum Festival opened yesterday at LongwoodGardens in Kennett Square, Pa., transforming the conservatories into a sea of vivid color. More than 20,000 chrysanthemums can be seen through Nov. 21, growing in a variety of forms -- in cascading curtains, 6-foot-wide hanging baskets, bonsai topiaries and huge pompons.In keeping with the theme of "The Return of the Dinosaurs," horticulturists have created a Triceratops mother and baby, a Dromiceiomimus and an Archelon (an ancestor of the sea turtle)