Hardy Pool

Hardy Pool. . , The Water Lily and Lotus Collection includes many winter-hardy plants that can thrive in our climate., Hardy water lily species are native to cooler areas of North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. In 19th-century France, Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac was the first to produce colorful cultivars by hybridizing the white-flowered, hardy species Nymphaea alba with vibrant, tropical water lilies. French Impressionist Claude Monet's celebrated paintings of water lilies depict Latour-Marliac hybrids that the artist purchased for his garden at Giverny. Many of the hybrids Monet painted are still available today., Cattails, irises, sweet-flags, rushes, aquatic grasses, and lotuses grow alongside water lilies in these pools. Although they appear tropical, lotuses are in fact quite cold hardy and live in the pools year-round. People have cultivated lotuses for thousands of years for its beauty as well as food, all parts of the plant are edible. As you walk around the pools, look for the different cultivated forms of lotus with deep pink or double flowers (which have multiple layers of petals) and note the distinctive conical seed pods. When the seeds ripen, they come loose and rattle when the pod is shaken., Generous support for the Water Lily and Lotus Collection has been provided by Vivian and Edward Merrin.