USA TODAY 10Best
Best Botanical Garden Holiday Lights: A Longwood Christmas
Best Botanical Garden Holiday Lights (2019)
During the winter season, a different kind of color lights up botanical gardens across the United States. Instead of spring flowers, visitors find twinkling holiday lights, often accompanied by a range of other holiday activities and events. Which botanical garden puts on the best seasonal lights show?
The top 10 winners in the category Best Botanical Garden Holiday Lights are as follows:
- Illuminations - Botanica - Wichita, Kan.
- Lights in Bloom - Marie Selby Botanical Gardens - Sarasota, Fla.
- Illumination: Tree Lights - Morton Arboretum - Chicago
- River of Lights - ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden - Albuquerque
- Fantasy in Lights - Callaway Gardens - Pine Mountain, Ga
- Million Bulb Walk/Dominion Energy Garden of Lights - Norfolk Botanical Garden - Norfolk, Va.
- Nights of a Thousand Candles - Brookgreen Gardens - Murrells Inlet, S.C.
- Gardens Aglow - Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens - Boothbay, Maine
- Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights - Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden - Richmond, Va.
- A Longwood Christmas - Longwood Gardens - Kennett Square, Penn.
Photo courtesy of Kansas Tourism/Andrea Etzel
No. 10:
Illuminations at Botanica in Wichita features 37 nights illuminated with some two million twinkling bulbs, paired with thousands of luminaries to light the way. Carolers and live music set the scene each night, and Santa is on-site for visits with young visitors.
Photo courtesy of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
No. 9:
More than 2 million lights illuminate Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota during Lights in Bloom. Walkways become sensory light tunnels, and the garden comes alive with illuminated flowers, rainforest butterflies and dragonflies. Santa visits nightly.
Photo courtesy of Morton Arboretum
No. 8:
One of the most interactive of our nominees, Illumination: Tree Lights at the Morton Arboretum in Chicago lights up each holiday season with a series of LED displays that respond to visitors' touch and sound. Highlights along the mile-long path of lights and projections include Meadow Lake Magic, where lights respond to the speed and direction of the wind, and Woodland Wonder’s illuminated grove of sycamore trees.
Photo courtesy of Visit Albuquerque
No. 7:
New Mexico’s largest walk-through light show, River of Lights at the ABQ BioPark Botanical Garden, features more than 600 displays made up of millions of lights. Other highlights of the event include a holiday-themed Garden Railroad model train exhibit, holiday nature crafts in the education building and visits with Santa aboard the Polar Bear Express.
Photo courtesy of Callaway Gardens
No. 6:
The beautiful Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia celebrates the season with more than 8 million lights spread across over a dozen lighted holiday scenes during Fantasy in Lights. Besides riding the Jolly Trolley past the lights displays, visitors can listen to stories from Mrs. Claus, watch live stage shows, learn to build natural bird feeders or ring in 2020 with a fireworks display.
Photo courtesy of Norfolk Botanical Garden
No. 5:
Visitors to Norfolk Botanical Garden can see more than a million dazzling holiday lights during the 25th anniversary of this annual holiday event. Visitors can walk through the lights to experience the magic of the holidays or drive in the comfort of their car during the Dominion Energy Garden of Lights drive-through.
Photo courtesy of Visit Myrtle Beach
No. 4:
On select nights in December, Brookgreen Gardens celebrates the holiday season in the glow of more than 2,700 hand-lit candles and countless more sparkling lights. Visitors can walk through the display with a warm cup of cider, cocoa or wine in hand to the sounds of live holiday music.
Photo courtesy of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
No. 3:
Gardens Aglow at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay ranks among the biggest and brightest lights displays in New England, with more than 650,000 bulbs. The event is part of the larger Boothbay Lights in partnership with area hotels, shops and restaurants. The 2019 event will incorporate the sculpture exhibit Unearthed by artist Steve Tobin for the first time.
Photo courtesy of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
No. 2:
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond lights up with more than a million LED bulbs during the Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights, a holiday tradition kicking off Thanksgiving Weekend. The 2019 event is themed Magic in the Air, taking inspiration from things that fly.
Photo courtesy of Longwood Gardens
No. 1:
During A Longwood Christmas, Longwood Gardens celebrates the shapes of the season. The outdoor gardens are sheer magic with more than half a million lights by way of illuminated trees to glowing orbs to dancing fountains. Outdoor fire pits and carolers add a note of holiday cheer. Inside, the celebration continues with elegantly adorned spaces and towering trees inspired by the contours of ribbons to confectionery to snowflakes.
A panel of experts partnered with 10Best editors to pick the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote.
Congratulations to all these winning botanical gardens!
About 10Best Readers' Choice Awards
Nominees are submitted by a panel of experts. 10Best editors narrow the field to select the final set of nominees for the Readers’ Choice Awards. Readers can vote once per category, per day. For any questions or comments, please read the FAQ or email USA TODAY 10Best.
The Experts
Aimee Heckel
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Aimee Heckel
Aimee Heckel's passion for storytelling has brought her around the world as a journalist, writing award-winning articles. Aimee has also edited, written and contributed to more than 70 books, including her own travel guide on Colorado and many travel books for Fodor's, Lonely Planet, and more. She has earned dozens of national and state writing awards and also is a content manager and editor for REP Fitness.
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Chelle Koster Walton
Chelle Koster Walton — the Local Expert for Naples, Florida and the Caribbean — has been covering the destination for 30 years. Her top-selling Sarasota, Sanibel Island, and Naples guidebook (Countryman Press) is in its sixth edition. She was contributing editor for Caribbean Travel & Life for 12 years and has written guidebooks on the Bahamas. A veteran travel writer, Chelle has published thousands of articles for Miami Herald, USA TODAY, Latitudes; has written/contributed to a dozen guidebooks, and produces travel shows for the local PBS station.
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Corinne Whiting
Corinne hails from the other Washington, where she caught the travel bug early on. Corinne studied abroad in Strasbourg, France (undergrad) and in Edinburgh, Scotland (graduate school). She's backpacked around Australia, taught English in Argentina and explored (so far!) countries from Cambodia and Egypt to Turkey and China. Corinne served as associate editor at Where magazine for five years; as a freelancer, she now writes for publications like National Geographic Traveler and Amtrak's OnTrak. Here in the lovely Northwest, she's attempting to debunk the rain myths, up her coffee and live music quotient and find her Zen near/on the water.
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Ilene Jacobs
As a perpetual wanderer, foodie freak and wannabe chef, Ilene is always on the lookout for the best places to see, eat, drink and sleep. When she's not writing about the latest happenings in her hometown of Dallas, she's hanging out in Paris and road tripping around Europe. You can find Ilene's articles about her favorite hot spots and foodie finds at 10Best.com, CBSDFW.com and in TravelAge West magazine. You can also follow Ilene on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
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Jacky Runice
Born in Bucktown when bulletproof was a home safety choice and not a coffee order, Jacky Runice has been knocking around Chicago as a professional print, online and broadcast journalist and editor specializing in separating the riff from the raff in culture, entertainment, food, travel and pure unadulterated fun. Jacky is a member of the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA). In her best Chicagoese, Jacky asks, "Who has the time or money to blow on hotels, attractions, restaurants, exhibits and activities that blow?"
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Marla is a writer with a passion for travel, music and culinary adventures (and combining those whenever possible)! As an avid globetrotter, she encourages respecting and learning about other cultures while traveling. She has visited Hawaii multiple times, and has explored destinations worldwide, including the Mediterranean region, South America, Asia and more. Marla is a contributor to Fodor’s Hawaii guidebooks (Oahu and Kauai 2020) and her articles have appeared in a number of international publications. She calls New Jersey (Philadelphia area) home. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter and read her travel tips and adventures on her website.
Marla Cimini
Marla is a writer with a passion for travel, music and culinary adventures (and combining those whenever possible)! As an avid globetrotter, she encourages respecting and learning about other cultures while traveling. She has visited Hawaii multiple times, and has explored destinations worldwide, including the Mediterranean region, South America, Asia and more. Marla is a contributor to Fodor’s Hawaii guidebooks (Oahu and Kauai 2020) and her articles have appeared in a number of international publications. She calls New Jersey (Philadelphia area) home. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter and read her travel tips and adventures on her website.
10Best Editors
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USA TODAY 10Best provides users with original, unbiased and experiential travel coverage of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world.
10Best Editors
USA TODAY 10Best provides users with original, unbiased and experiential travel coverage of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world.
