Chicago Botanic Garden

Explore the Garden

Aquatic Garden

A winding boardwalk overlooks a garden of dazzling waterlilies and lotus.

 

In the Aquatic Garden, visitors can stroll down a winding boardwalk to view scores of magnificent waterlilies and lotus in various stages of bud and bloom. The shady hill of the nearby Bulb Garden is a favorite spot of artists eager to capture the emerging flowers in the sparkle of early morning light.

Among the featured plants is the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), immortalized in literature, religion, and history for its purity of bloom. Depictions of the two-foot-wide leaves and eight-inch pale pink flowers arising above the water from the muddy depths are legendary.

 Find out what's in bloom now.

PHOTO: aquatic garden PHOTO: aquatic garden