(05-21-10)
Friday was the opening ceremony for Lilytopia, a new exhibit event that is being hosted by Longwood gardens. Here is the official page about the exhibit.
Many staff, students, and volunteers have been working on Lilytopia over the past week in the East Conservatory. The design and the organization for the event have been in the works for over two years, however! And it shows.
(The Fern Floor/Exhibit Hall all set up for the official opening)
All the preparatory work really come to life through with the current display. Even though I am interning at Longwood Gardens, I rarely walk through the conservatories during normal hours. So the ribbon cutting was extra fun for me; not having seen any of the actual installation first hand. This display is up from May 21st to May 31st, so not very long! If you’re reading this post after the fact, be sure to mark your calendars for next year!
(Paul Redman addresses the audience)
The ceremony today was 45 minutes long and consisted of 4 speakers. Paul Redman, Executive Director of Longwood, gave opening remarks and pointed out key people. One of them was Juergen Steininger, who not only came up with the original idea, but facilitated, organized, and more-or-less ran the entire operation on Longwood Gardens side. We had many ovations for him, but it certainly seemed well deserved.
(Nathan Hayward, the Board of Directors President, addresses the audience.)
We had an address from the Board of Directors, Nathan Hayward, who talked mostly about Pierre S. duPont and his legacy. Also about how this exhibit was very fitting and what a great step for Longwood it is.
The last two to address the group were…Mr. Henk Westerhof and Her Excellency Renee Jones-Bos, Ambassador of the Netherlands. Mr. Westerhof is the chairman of ANTHOS, the Royal Trade Association for nursery stock and flower bulbs. He talked mostly on the flower trade industry, which I found very interesting. America’s first connection was the Netherlands was back in 1609, when the first ship arrived in the Delaware/Pennsylvania region. Some of the first colonies were called New Amsterdam and New Netherlands. He also talked about the current relationship and how America is one of the top consumers of the Netherlands product.
(The ‘baptizing’ of Lillium ‘Lilytopia’)
Her Excellency spoke about the Netherlands as well and the relationship between their country and ours. I found it interesting to know that for all the product and stock that the Netherland exports, the entire country is only the size of two New Jersey’s! She also addressed many key players in the organization of Lilytopia.
Next, Mr. Westerhof stepped up again to describe the ‘baptizing’ ceremony that was going to take place over the newly hybridized lily, Lillium ‘Lilytopia’. It’s a beautiful light pink flower with hints of yellow; plus its a double flowering lily! The photos were quiet stunning. Unfortunately it was not yet blooming on the opening day, and so he was describing how the weather in Holland had affected this. Over at the Lily table, each said a few words and gave a toast to the new hybrid. Then Her Excellency poured a glass of champagne over the lily bulbs. It was definitely a new experience for me!
(The official ribbon cutting)
The ribbon cutting was next. The four headed over to the side of the Exhibit Hall/Fern Floor to the entrance of the East Conservatory. It was a bit crowded, but I managed to get a photo!
(Lilytopia is officially opened!)
(I snuck a photo of the designer, Dorien van den Berg. She’s fabulous!)
(Some of the display)
The displays themselves were quiet beautiful. I’m typically not a big fan of lillies (all the sneezing and such :)) but it was pretty beautiful in the East Conservatory. The sheer volume would be able to impress even an avid lily-hater. 10,000 cut stems! And all these were delivered soon after the ash cloud shut down many airports in Europe. It’s very impressive how everything still managed to fall together, even with nature’s surprises.
It’ll be fun to see how the the flowers progress through-out the week. So many of the flower stems have not fully opened yet!
(This was my favorite from the ‘choose your favorite new lily’ section. It’s called ‘Lion Heart’. The picture isn’t very good, but the flowers are stunning!)
(I loved this and its something we can all do at home. Some of the lily vases are only water and plastic wrap. It looks gorgeous!)
Check out more ‘official’ photos at the Longwood Gardens Facebook Page!
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