Jul 8th, 2012

Aqualand

Photos & text by Albert Brian Vick,  Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Community Kitchen Garden Coordinator

With so much heat lately the human brain craves the cooling effect of water. Imagine being a water plant with our feet beneath the water and our heads tilted up toward the sky, floating on the surface. Yep, feeling cooler already.

Water Lily These Victoria amazonica “Longwood hybrid” tropical water lilies are currently more than 2 feet in diameter, and will eventually mature to a width of 6 feet. They may be carnivorous – just kidding – or maybe it’s the space age architecture of the Conservatory that gives this image a slightly scary science fiction tinge.

 

Water Lily Yes, the color spectrum was tweaked slightly for this image, but not a lot.

 

Mosaic Plant; Ludwegia sedioidesA great example of mathematics in nature — the Mosaic Plant; Ludwegia sedioides

 

Lotus PodThe lotus blossoms are almost finished, leaving their other-worldly sculptural seed pods floating above the foliage.

Jonah Holland is Digital Content Manager at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, where she has worked for 14 years overseeing social media, the blog, and the website. She is also a mom, yogi, open water swimmer, gardener, and seeker. She's been known to go for a walk in the Garden and come back with hundreds of plant photos, completely inspired to write her next blog post.

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