What Makes Plant Lovers Discovery Tours Special?

Tours Created by Horticulture Professionals
Plant Lovers Discovery Tours works with the professional staff of participating Philadelphia area gardens, museums, and historic sites to develop tours specifically designed for plant lovers. These are horticulture professionals who know the region, know plants, and know what those with a passion for plants and gardens want to know. Participating sites are the primary source for information that forms the basis of our tours. In addition, the founder of Plant Lovers Discovery Tours has 20 years experience working with public gardens nationally and editing the only journal for public garden professionals in North America.

Exceptional Educational Experiences
Our tours are designed to appeal to life long learners, people who ask questions about the places they visit, who want to know more, who read and enjoy the company of those who share their passion for plants. Each tour focuses on a theme and is rather like a workshop that moves from site to site in its exploration of that theme with gardens, museums, and historic sites selected to offer a variety of experiences. The educational components include:

• For both group and individual tour participants, packets of information about each site on the tour
• For group tours, on bus guides who provide additional background information en route to the individual sites
• For group tours, behind-the-scenes guided tours of the sites by one of our expert guides
• On site staff who can answer specific questions about the site

Expert Guides for Group Tours
The strength of our group tour program is our tour guides who are chosen for their knowledge of the tour theme and plant expertise as well as their ability to share information with you. Plant Lovers Discovery Tours’ expert guides bring the topics to life, identifying similarities and differences between sites and offering you the opportunity to ask questions on a range of topics including growing conditions, plant varieties, and what works best in the home garden. Our guides love plants, enjoy people, and are committed to making sure that you have a great time.

Customized Itineraries for Group Tours
All Plant Lovers Discovery Tours can be customized to meet a group’s particular interests. For example,

• A group interested in the Progressive Women in Horticulture Tour can also ask to have the guide include a secondary focus on a topic such as garden design or conifers or interesting plant combinations.
• A group that wants to do more than one of the themed tours can take a sampler tour that includes the one-day versions of all or some of the tours.
• A group that wants to include expert speakers on their tour can benefit from the wealth of horticultural expertise found in the region that is known as the horticultural capital of North America.
• A group that wants to benefit from the many native plant sales in the Philadelphia region can organize its tour to coincide with those sales.

Support for Group Tour Planners
We offer group tour planners the benefit of our local, insider’s knowledge of the Philadelphia region. Because we know the area, the packages we offer have some special features including:

• Bookings at small, comfortable and affordable hotels
• Recommendations about restaurants and evening activities
• Local bus companies that offer excellent service
• Help in timing your visit to arrive during peak bloom season for particular plant groups
• Insider’s knowledge of plant sales and other special events at the 29 area public gardens

Bloom Times
We know the peak bloom times for the plants at the gardens on our tours. We can help you decide when to time your visit to the region and what you can expect to see during that visit.