August is a great month to take a walk around the water gardens to see our aquatic plants in their full glory. </p> Begin your stroll at the small pool in the Ellipse garden, home to the Chihuly sculpture, Colorado</em>. A unique plant displayed in this pond is mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides</em>). 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 </em>hybrids) including ‘Albert Greenberg’, ‘Wanvisa’, ‘Sunfire’ and ‘Laydekeri Ful-gens’, along with Colocasia esculenta</em> ‘Black Magic’ and Canna </em>‘Chiquita Punch’ round out the display in this pond.</p> 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</em>, has been used by hybridizers to create cultivars of star waterlilies with flowers in a rainbow of colors. N. gracilis</em> 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</em>) surround a recirculating pottery fountain in the center of this pond.</p> 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 </em>‘Flirtini’, Canna </em>‘Belin-da’, red stemmed thalia (Thalia geniculata </em>f. rheumoides</em>), swamp hibiscus (Hibiscus ‘Berry Awe-some’ and ‘Heartthrob’), and Mexican petunia (Ruellia simplex</em>). Water platters (Victoria </em>‘Long-wood Hybrid’) grown from seed each spring in our greenhouse complete this display.</p> 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</em>) and tropical waterlilies (Nymphaea </em>‘Foxfire’) this summer.</p> 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’.</p> 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.</p> 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 </em>hybrids, aquatic Iris </em>and other marginal plants including pickerel plant (Pontederia cordata</em>), lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus</em>), and powdery thalia (Thalia dealbata</em>). Stands of lotus (Nelumbo </em>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. </p> Photos by Tamara Kilbane</em> </p>
Following an unusually cool and wet spring, summer has finally made an appearance at the Gardens. Throughout our ponds, waterlilies are putting on a spectacular show, with hardy varieties taking center stage this month. These floating-leaved aquatic plants were made popular by the famous painter, Claude Monet. However, another artistic mind was responsible for the creation of the beautiful lilies that first caught Monet’s attention.</p>Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac, a Frenchman who lived from 1830-1911, is considered the father of hardy waterlily hybridizing. He created over 100 hybrids in a rainbow of colors using species from around the world, including North America, as parent plants. Up until the introduction of these hybrids, most people in Europe were only familiar with their native white-flowering hardy waterlily, Nymphaea alba</em>.</p>In 1889, Latour-Marliac displayed many of his new waterlilies at the World’s Fair in Paris, where they won first prize and caught the attention of Claude Monet. Inspired by the colorful hybrids, Monet placed an order with Latour-Marliac’s nursery (which is still operational today in Le Temple-sur-Lot, France) soon after he completed work on his new garden in Giverny. The rest, as they say, is history.</p>Many of Latour-Marliac’s original hybrids were unfortunately lost over time, but several remain among the most popular hardy waterlilies grown around the world. Here at the Gardens, 20 of these historically significant hybrids (listed below) can be found growing in an appropriately named water garden: our Monet Pool.</p>Latour-Marliac waterlily hybrids at Denver Botanic Gardens along with their date of introduction:</p>‘Albatros’ (1910)</li>‘Amabilis’ (1921) *</li>‘Andreana’ (1895)</li>‘Arc-en-ciel’ (1900)</li>‘Attraction’ (1910)</li>‘Aurora’ (1895)</li>‘Darwin’ (1909)</li>‘Escarboucle’ (1909)</li>‘Fabiola’ (1908)</li>‘Formosa’ (1900)</li>‘Gloriosa’ (1896)</li>‘Gonnere’ (1914) *</li>‘Indiana’ (1912) *</li>‘Laydekeri Fulgens’ (1893)</li>‘Laydekeri Lilacea’ (1893)</li>‘Marliacea Carnea’ (1880)</li>‘Marliacea Chromatella’ (1880)</li>‘Paul Hariot’ (1905)</li>‘Sioux’ (1908)</li>‘Virginalis’ (1908)</li></ul>*Introduced after Latour-Marliac’s death</p>
