Brookside Gardens Lotus Blossom - July 2012

On Friday (7/20/2012) when we made our trip to Brookside Gardens - the only Lotus blossom was facing into some leaves and too far away to photograph…but there were buds.

On Sunday (7/22/2012) when we returned - after almost 24 straight hours of rain - one of the buds had opened fully. I took a number of pictures and noticed that there seemed to be a lot of bees coming and going from the flower.

The only way to see inside the flower was to reach as far as I could and point the camera into the flower from above (in other words - taking the picture without being able to see the screen of the camera at all). The best one is below. It clearly shows that bees love lotus flowers! I think there are 6 bees visible!

Summer Lotus

Over the past month, I’ve seen lotus plants in two separate gardens and photographed them. The pink ones were in the Dallas Arboretum (with the Chihuly glass) and the white ones were in Brookside Gardens in Montgomery County Maryland.

I like the big leaves of the lotus. They 

• Are almost circular.
• Curve into a shallow bowl to capture a pool of water in their centers when it rains.
• Unfurl like lily pads, starting out in two curls toward the center.
• Are veined from the center outward.
• Flutter gently in the breeze on their long stalks that are anchored in muddy shallow water.
• Have gentle waves around their edges. 

Enjoy the lotus slideshow below!