I lived about 15 minutes from Longwood Gardens for many years and it is indeed fantastic. If you’re in that area again and are a fan of botanic gardens, I would strongly urge you to take another few hours to visit Mt. Cuba Center, about 15 minutes away in Delaware. It is another former DuPont estate that has been converted to a showplace and research center for native plants. For many years, it was incredibly inspiring to me as a local gardener. The Winterthur museum and estate is also very close by—another fabulous set of gardens and plantings, but even more impressive is the museum, which has the country’s best collection of American decorative arts. I like to call it the “Antiques Roadshow Museum.”