Water Lily Heaven

[GrannyNanny]

A week or so ago I spent some time at the local conservatory, which has a series of reflecting pools along three sides of the building. These pools have had water lilies in them for several years, but never the variety nor the gorgeousness of the ones this year. I attach some of my photos for your enjoyment. Phyllis

[GrannyNanny]

Just found some more -- Enjoy! Phyllis

[eastwood2007]

WOWOWOW!

Enjoy them I did!

Thanks, Phyllis...those are stunning!

[jgh]

Hi, Phyllis!

We were there last weekend with our "kids" for our 40th Anniversary. I know I've got a picture around here somewhere of the - what are they called - "Giant Water Platters" ??? or something that are clearly first cousins to the water lilies and growing in the same ponds. Amazing leaves, growing just like water lilies but maybe 30" across and with "sides" growing perpendicular to the water surface...

ah... found a couple! I also have some flower pics, but after seeing yours I think I will refrain from opening myself to unfavorable comparison!

[Chris_W]

Those are beautiful! Makes me wish I had a large enough pond for something like that, though I'd have to learn how to overwinter them too, as those are all tropical and not winter hardy.

And your pictures go so well together - I was looking at the flowers wishing I could see the whole plants, and there they were

Thanks

Chris

[Linda P]

Wonderful pics from both of you. Those 'Giant Water Platters' look like they could be used as stepping stones across the water.
Linda P

[govgirl75]

Wow. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Water lilies have such vibrant colors and different flower and leaf forms. At the risk of further dating myself, does anyone remember Boy in the Tarzan movies (Johnny Weissmuller series) floating down the river on a water platter? Odd, though, because I think these plants are from the Amazon in South America not Africa. Anyway, those leaves are amazing.
Glo

[JoshS]

The "water platters" are Victoria water lilies and you are correct, Glo...they are native to South America.

Beautiful pictures!

[eastwood2007]

Gorgeous!

I'm with Chris in that I wish I had a spot big enough to grow these. I do have a pond, but I don't want to put anything in there that could prove invasive....unless they did die every year and I could just save a few somehow?

jgh, I noticed in your second photo that it looks like the platters are getting ready to bloom....can you go back this weekend and get a photo of the blooms for us????

[GrannyNanny]

The Victoria Lilies are stunning, but you would NOT want them in your water garden, even supposing you did have room for them! They are armored underneath by excruciatingly sharp spikes, growing downward all over the underside of those "platters". They also grow on the stems of the blossoms, and even on the bud pieces that remain when the lily finally opens. I was there once before the place opened, when two of the workers were wading around in that pool taking out dead leaves and other detritus. They wore very thick rubber waders -- the bib-overall kind -- and said that even those did not ward off those spikes, which came right through if they bumped into one of the stems. They wore thick, thick padded gloves to handle the lily leaves, and even then they said that they got lacerated by the spikes quite often. Somewhere in my photo stuff I have pics of the leaves' undersides, taken when those workers turned a leaf over preparatory to removing it from the pond. Also, there are some photos of the blossoms too, which look like big, fat buds and don't open out as beautifully as the pics I showed you here. I'll collect what I have, and start a new thread on Victoria Lilies so you can see them from both JGH's topside pics, and mine of the undersides. Not tonight however -- I just got home from three days of taking care of my daughter's household, which includes a college kid, two girls 8 and 12, two small fluffy dogs, and her elderly mother. (She is my unofficially adopted daughter from the Dominican Republic -- I'm her American mom, but she does have her birth mother as well, who's been staying with them.) Daughter and husband were at Mayo for him to get a complete assessment of his aggressive prostate cancer, so I was holding the fort while they were gone. I'm exhausted -- I'll look up those pics tomorrow! Phyllis

[thy]

Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing.
Very elegant flowera, specially the red one and great ponds
Fun to see how they are tied together.
The spikes looks dangerous , bet they are good for protection.
Think Johs can tell us about them. If you haven't seen his pond you need to go to the pond area and a few years back

[~dirtbug~]

omg, look at the platter ones i love them, off to find the other thread with the undersides...

gorgeous ponds, they dont look very deep...

[GrannyNanny]

I've posted this on the water garden forum, where a copy of this thread has been moved, but I wanted to catch you folks who don't look there. Here are a few photos of the Como Conservatory. One is a pic of the dome and part of the sunken garden (from the outside), where the lilies I've posted are all growing in the reflecting pools around three sides of the building. Another is of the sunken garden inside, and the third is from the outside front steps. It's a marvelous place, and I encourage you to visit it if you ever get to St. Paul or Minneapolis. Phyllis