Water Lilies at Longwood Gardens

I spent a few hours this morning with my daughter Emily and her friend Brian wandering through Longwood Gardens. It really is a wonderful time of year for a stroll there. The boxwood topiaries are at their bushy best, the late summer temperatures cooled by the many fountain displays, the beautiful Italian Water Garden, the tree houses and of course the conservatory. This month they are featuring fragrance and many fragrant specimens were there for the touch and smell from tuberoses to geraniums to lavender. As we wondered through the conservatory past the Rose room, the Orchid room and the Tropical room there was an opportunity to stroll to a small patio which featured one of my favorites - the water lily. 

The water lily is a floating six-leaved aquatic perennial herb that grows in silty sedimental water up to six feet deep. They can be found in slow streams and ponds and are native to the eastern North Americas and southern Canada. After a water lily has finished flowering the stalk/fruit is drawn below the water and forms a seed pod containing lots of seed for new plants.
Once when I was working at Wild Thyme, a local flower shop, we provided flowers for a party at Archmere Academy and among the flowers we provided were a dozen or so water lilies to float in the fountains for the evenings event. It was magnificent. 
So enjoy the pics from today and if you get a chance stop and look at water lilies at your garden store (you can even grow one during the summer in a deep pot on your own patio) or take a trip to Longwood Gardens.