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| PLANNING IN ACTION | |||||||||
| Beyond the Garden Gates: Our Culture of Planning |
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Longwood Gardens has been called the “greatest horticultural extravaganza in America” where achieving an extraordinary guest experience is paramount to those who work and volunteer here. Nestled just outside of Philadelphia, PA in the bucolic Brandywine Valley, our grand Conservatory and 1,077-acres of gardens and naturalized landscapes attract more than one million guests annually. While displays that elevate the art of horticulture remain central to our core, our appeal extends well beyond. The inception of Longwood Gardens as a place of beauty, education, and the arts stems from our founder Pierre S. du Pont (1879-1954), who left an indelible mark on the property he purchased more than a century ago. But how does an institution like ours effectively nurture its legacy while expanding its vision for the future? | |||||||||
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Photo: Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA | |||||||||
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We believe the answer lies with integrated planning, careful implementation, and true inclusion, ensuring that everyone at all levels of Longwood impacts the direction we’re headed.
In 2006 we began to develop a more definitive, refined public garden experience and set our sights on achieving world-class recognition for such an endeavor. Based upon the merger of beautiful horticulture, plant science, and entertainment, we began a trajectory of both institutional study and growth. An immersive and ground-breaking strategic planning process in 2008 became the first integral step in helping us see the big picture, crafting a new story based on our longstanding roots. Global benchmarking studies and a comprehensive review of our organizational structure and programs helped to inform our new mission, vision, and institutional values which were officially adopted in August 2009. The deep dive continued over the next three years with a 5-year operational strategic plan, a 40-year site master plan for our 1,077 acres, a heritage management plan, a 400-page landscape evolution report documenting our landscape’s transformation from its beginning, an interpretive plan, and a comprehensive brand plan, never before done. This renewed vision for a 21st century Longwood Gardens has set us on a path to establish higher standards, best practices, and revenue gains all the while realizing our planning process is ever evolving; it’s provided us with the right tools, the right framework to prepare us for growth. | |||||||||
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To keep our promise of providing our guests with an extraordinary experience, we have learned that we need to connect with them, to become relevant, finding ways to bridge our stories with what’s important to them. Our interpretive plan is helping us make these connections. We often say that if you read our Facebook page it’s a “love-fest.” It happens in our Gardens, too. Our world has become theirs. We offer our guests simple beauty, pleasure, enjoyment, respite, whatever it is they seem to be seeking which is always changing. And we’re always adapting. Through our thorough planning and rigorous implementation during the last six years, our vision is taking shape and has been met with approval by millions of guests both onsite and online, and thousands of colleagues worldwide. We’ve seen our visitation increase by 44%, Membership households by 175%, and earned revenue growth of 63%. As we continue to advance the development of our 40-year master site plan and implement our interpretive, heritage management, and brand plans, we remain committed to our values of excellence, professional leadership, fiscal alignment, stewardship, and community engagement, values that are embedded into our culture, into all that we do. |
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