Thousands are drawn to McKee Botanical Garden each summer when the vibrantly colored waterlilies are in bloom, and this year is no exception. Visitors stand alongside the ponds and gaze in awe, many attempting to capture the moment through photos or by painting one of the 150 varieties on display. At this past Saturday’s 12th annual Waterlily Celebration, which also marked the 15th anniversary of the reopening of McKee, roughly 1,000 admirers of the “jewels of the pond” came to view the largest collection of waterlilies in the state.
Photographers had been coming to the garden for weeks hoping to capture an image and win an award in the annual Waterlily Photo Contest, competing in four categories – competing in Color, Black and White and Manipulated, in adult and youth categories. The ultimate ego boost, a special People’s Choice award, was won by Shelley Stang.
Horticulturists and backyard gardeners also came to watch repotting demonstrations and ask questions of resident experts Director of Horticulture Andreas Daehnick, McKee gardener Nikki Stoltze and Aquatic Systems and Resources President Pat Faehnle.
“We repot around March,” said Stoltze, standing hip-high in a pond while explaining easy-to-manage waterlily repotting techniques to the interested crowd. “You can order them throughout the year but I probably would not order them in the winter simply because they would be in their decline and you want them to fully experience spring.”
Daehnick and Executive Director Christine Hobart said one of their most exciting new endeavors is to create their own variety of waterlily.
“We are looking to do a little hybridizing,” said Daehnick, who is working on the project with Stoltze. “We are playing a little bit with that; determining which plants do the best for us and which ones bloom the longest through the winter to make that the basis of our selections.”
When it was suggested that the new breed might be named after them, Daehnick laughed and said, “Most likely everyone will put a name in the bucket and we will pull it out and get it that way.”
Local architect George Bollis, who has passed down his own talent and love of photography to his granddaughters Mia and Rebekah Arrington, beamed with pride in the Hall of Giants seeing that the girls had swept the Youth photo category.
“Grandpa only got a second place,” said Bollis. “I thought they were going to do OK but I did not know they were going to whup it. I am particularly proud of my granddaughters today.”
“We look for good composition and the lighting but also we want to see if the subject matter is apparent or the background is full of clutter,” said Pat Rice, one of the judges. A professional photographer, he spends a good deal of his own time at McKee. “I also try and force myself to look at the sides, for the unobvious things too like the dragon flies. I love to see the vision a lot of these people have. If you are an amateur and not a professional, it doesn’t a mean you can’t make a great image.”
Photos of the waterlilies, contest winners and information about summer activities may be viewed on their website, mckeegarden.org.