water lilies

This bud is Adelaide's Amazonian Water Lily. I was told that it opens in the evening, around 5pm, and has a spread of about 60cm. I wasn't planning on staying around that long to wait for it, so I'll take their word for it.


It lives in our Amazonian Water Lily Pavilion, a fancy glass structure that was built around the pond to replace the original pavilion, which was much the same size, but the glass wasn't clear, the entrance was smaller and the inside perimeter plantings much more dense. I liked it and this new one will take some getting used to.

This is the original pond, cleaned up quite a bit, but still pretty. As you can see the walking path around it is quite wide, plenty of room for people to pass each other. Years ago, it was a case of lean against the pond while others passing you brushed the perimeter plants as they squeezed by. There were plants hanging over and climbing up the walls too. They're gone now. The atmosphere is warm and humid, but not as warm as in the Palm House.

Most of the leaves you see are flat, but there are two like this one in the next photo. Quite unusual. Next time I go I'll see if there's any information available to tell us what it is, whether it's just a juvenile form of the larger leaves or a different plant altogether.

Here is a shot looking down through the water to the base of the lily, showing how the stems and leaves fan out. I think this one is just a regular water lily, not an Amazonian one.

Here is another underwater photo, showing a flower bud forming, and look! two small black fish!

(The rest got away.) There used to be larger goldfish, bright oranges and silvers, I hope they put some of those back in.

This last photo is an open lily, the only open flower in the whole pond.

This concludes today's tour, please feel free to come back anytime and see more of our lovely Botanic Garden.