The lotus flowers at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens have begun to bloom! We made a late morning visit to check them out. Its not peak yet but there are some very beautiful examples already! Peak bloom is currently expected to occur in three weeks.
Although we came for the lotuses, we still enjoyed seeing the water lily flowers! They look more or less the same as they did when we visited a month ago.
There majority of the water lilies had white flowers.
There were also some very pink ones as well as others that were a light shade of pink.
Now on to the lotuses! There were many that looked like they were ready to open, and a few that were just starting to open.
There were even a few lotuses that had already completely dropped their petals!
These lotuses were the best examples that we found where the seed holding part of the flower could be seen in its entirety. There were many other beautiful examples in the garden but they were angled such that we could see the middle section.
One particular little pond was extremely dense with flowering lotuses! The other ponds were quite a bit behind with just a few lotus flowers near the walking paths.
There were so many flowers despite it not being peak bloom yet! We photographed many of them!
There are only two species of lotus plant that currently exist. There is an Asian species and an American species. The lotuses in the garden are of the Asian variety. The primary difference for the casual observer appears to be in the color with the Asian ones being pinkish and the American ones being yellowish, though there is apparently plenty to read on the subject.
While the vast majority of the lotus flowers were a mix of white and pink, with more pink at the tips of the flower petals, this example was particularly pink and the pinkest we came across.
Other than the water lilies and lotuses, we noticed these flowers that are past their prime. The bees seemed to enjoy them, though they seemed to enjoy everything in the garden!
These flowers added a bit of color to the very green landscape. There is also a bee here!
While walking on the boardwalk which leads into a marshy area near the Anacostia River, we saw this Great Egret in the distance! Visually, it appeared as an extremely white dot out in the distance. The heat distortions unfortunately impacted photo quality a bit. It was busy preening its feathers and did not move from its perch.
We came across this Cedar Waxwing above us while walking back on the boardwalk. This species is rather pretty and very unique looking. Its too bad we don’t see them more often!
There were also many dragonflies and/or damselflies. This one appears to be a dragonfly due to the wings being held extended while at rest?
There were also turtles enjoying the hot morning sun. The weather was supposed to be a mix of clouds and sun but it ended up being all sun instead.
Photo Gallery: https://gallery.thesun.arfycat.com/Galleries/USA/Washington-DC/Kenilworth-Aquatic-Gardens-2022-06