August Walking Tour - Water Gardens

August is a great month to take a walk around the water gardens to see our aquatic plants in their full glory.  

Begin your stroll at the small pool in the Ellipse garden, home to the Chihuly sculpture, Colorado. A unique plant displayed in this pond is mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides). This South American native thrives in warm water, making this pool the ideal spot for it to show off its intricate pattern of tiny floating leaves arranged in a mosaic pattern on the water’s surface. Hardy and tropical wa-terlilies (Nymphaea hybrids) including ‘Albert Greenberg’, ‘Wanvisa’, ‘Sunfire’ and ‘Laydekeri Ful-gens’, along with Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Magic’ and Canna ‘Chiquita Punch’ round out the display in this pond.

Next, head west to the Romantic Garden pool, where you will find a display of star waterlilies. These waterlilies are named for the shape of their blooms, which are stellate and held high above the water’s surface. One waterlily species, Nymphaea gracilis, has been used by hybridizers to create cultivars of star waterlilies with flowers in a rainbow of colors. N. gracilis is native to Mexi-co and has solid white blooms and green leaves. Cultivars displayed in this pond include the pink flowered ‘August Siebert’, ‘Rhapsody in White’, which boasts white blooms and mottled leaves, and ‘Rhonda Kay’ which rounds out the collection with purple flowers. A pair of Santa Cruz water platters (Victoria cruziana) surround a recirculating pottery fountain in the center of this pond.

Continuing to the west, you will find the Four Towers Pool. This pond borders the south and west sides of the Science Pyramid and showcases a collection of hardy intersubgeneric waterlilies (crosses between hardy and tropical waterlilies that have proven to be winter hardy here in Denver) as well as hardy waterlilies, tropical waterlilies, and an assortment of marginal plants (plants that grow in shallow water around the margins of a pond) including Canna ‘Flirtini’, Canna ‘Belin-da’, red stemmed thalia (Thalia geniculata f. rheumoides), swamp hibiscus (Hibiscus ‘Berry Awe-some’ and ‘Heartthrob’), and Mexican petunia (Ruellia simplex). Water platters (Victoria ‘Long-wood Hybrid’) grown from seed each spring in our greenhouse complete this display.

Before you continue west, peek at the El Pomar Waterway to the east of the Science Pyramid. This long, shallow canal is planted with a repeating pattern of Egyptian papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) and tropical waterlilies (Nymphaea ‘Foxfire’) this summer.

The next pond on our tour can be found at the west end of the Steppe Garden just as you enter the Annuals Garden. This pool is home to the Rocky Mountain Legacy Collection – waterlilies that have been tested for performance at the Gardens over the years and have historical signifi-cance. This collection includes the hardy waterlilies ‘Colorado’, ‘Denver’, ‘Denver’s Delight’, ‘Joey Tomocik’, ‘Bea Taplin’, ‘Attorney Elrod’ and ‘Cynthia Ann’.  Tropical waterlilies in the collection include ‘Stan Skinger’, ‘William McLane’ and ‘Bob Hoffman’.

Continuing downstream, our Annuals Garden ponds feature a display of night-blooming waterlilies this year including ‘Texas Shell Pink’, ‘Missouri’, ‘Antares’ and ‘Rosa de Noche’. If you are visiting the gardens in the evening or early morning hours, you can find the blooms of these lilies fully open before they close for the day.

North of our outdoor café, the Hive Garden Bistro, the Monet Pool stretches north and west to the border of the Japanese Garden and is our largest display pond and the final stop on our tour. This water garden features hundreds of hardy and tropical waterlilies, water-loving Canna hybrids, aquatic Iris and other marginal plants including pickerel plant (Pontederia cordata), lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus), and powdery thalia (Thalia dealbata). Stands of lotus (Nelumbo cultivars) are displayed throughout the pond as well. These begin blooming in mid-July and continue into August before dropping their petals to reveal showy, decorative seed pods. 

Photos by Tamara Kilbane