Bennetts Water Gardens is an 8-acre (32,000 m2) garden in Chickerell, near Weymouth, Dorset, in southern England. It holds national and international collections of water lilies which flower from late May through to September. The plants are displayed in a series of ponds and lakes. A feature of the garden is a blue Japanese bridge built in 1999 to celebrate 100 years since Claude Monet painted his famous piece Water Lily Pond 1899.
The garden was created by the Bennett family who still run it today. The site was originally a clay pit as far back as 1859; [1] Oxford Clay was dug by hand from the ground for brickmaking. Today a museum on the site details this local history, including Chickerell village, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book; Chesil Beach; and The Fleet lagoon.
The collection of Nymphaea (Water Lily) is accredited with Plant Heritage as a National Plant Collection. [2]
Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 known species. Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on or emergent from the surface. Leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria and Euryale.
Abbotsbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. The settlement is in the unitary authority of Dorset about 1 mile (1.6 km) inland from the English Channel coast. The village, including Chesil Beach, the swannery and subtropical gardens, is owned by the Ilchester Estate, which owns 61 square kilometres of land in Dorset. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 481.
Nymphaea is a genus of hardy and tender aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Many species are cultivated as ornamental plants, and many cultivars have been bred. Some taxa occur as introduced species where they are not native, and some are weeds. Plants of the genus are known commonly as water lilies, or waterlilies in the United Kingdom. The genus name is from the Greek νυμφαία, nymphaia and the Latin nymphaea, which mean "water lily" and were inspired by the nymphs of Greek and Latin mythology.
Nymphaea alba, the white waterlily, European white water lily or white nenuphar, is an aquatic flowering plant in the family Nymphaeaceae. It is native to North Africa, temperate Asia, Europe and tropical Asia.
Chickerell is a town and parish in Dorset, England. In the 2011 census the parish and the electoral ward had a population of 5,515.
Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea, is a water lily in the genus Nymphaea, a botanical variety of Nymphaea nouchali.
Nuphar is a genus of aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae, with a temperate to subarctic Northern Hemisphere distribution. Common names include water-lily, pond-lily, alligator-bonnet or bonnet lily, and spatterdock.
Nymphaea lotus, the white Egyptian lotus, tiger lotus, white lotus, or Egyptian water-lily, is a flowering plant of the family Nymphaeaceae.
Nymphaea lotus var. thermalis is a variety of Nymphaea lotus native to Romania.
Nymphaea pubescens, the hairy water lily or pink water-lily, is a species of water lily.
Nymphaea odorata, also known as the American white waterlily, fragrant water-lily, beaver root, fragrant white water lily, white water lily, sweet-scented white water lily, and sweet-scented water lily, is an aquatic plant belonging to the genus Nymphaea. It can commonly be found in shallow lakes, ponds, and permanent slow moving waters throughout North America where it ranges from Central America to northern Canada. It is also reported from Brazil and Guyana.
Nymphaea leibergii, also known as the dwarf waterlily and Leiberg's waterlily, is a perennial emergent aquatic plant belonging to the genus Nymphaea. It can be found across northern North America in ponds and slow moving streams. Populations of this plant are infrequent throughout its range, and it is protected as a state threatened plant in Maine, Michigan, and Minnesota.
Nymphaea nouchali, often known by its synonym Nymphaea stellata, or by common names blue lotus, star lotus, red water lily, dwarf aquarium lily, blue water lily, blue star water lily or manel flower, is a water lily of genus Nymphaea. It is native to southern and eastern parts of Asia, and is the national flower of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In Sanskrit it is called utpala. This species is usually considered to include the blue Egyptian lotus N. nouchali var. caerulea. In the past, taxonomic confusion has occurred, with the name Nymphaea nouchali incorrectly applied to Nymphaea pubescens.
The Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens is a visitor attraction near the village of Abbotsbury, Dorset, southern England. They are Grade I listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Nymphaea thermarum is a species of water lily that is endemic to Rwanda. Once thought to be extinct in the wild, all wild plants were believed to be lost due to destruction of its native habitat, but it was thought to be saved from extinction when it was grown from seed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2009. A previously-unknown wild population was discovered in 2023.
Albert de Lestang was a French-Australian botanist. From his North Queensland property, Adel's Grove, de Lestang supplied seeds and plants to botanical gardens around the world. In 1946 he supplied seeds of a rare white-flowered water lily that the botanical world had been chasing since 1852. The seeds were sent to Kew Gardens but forwarded to Texas for propagation. The lily was originally referred to as a form of Nymphaea gigantea but is currently identified as a new species N. carpentariae. The cultivar 'Albert De L'Estang' is thought to be a different species, N. immutabilis.
Nothe Gardens is a public garden, located in Weymouth, Dorset, England. Positioned on the Nothe Peninsula overlooking both Weymouth and Portland harbours, the informal gardens are often acclaimed to be the most beautiful the borough has to offer.
Nymphaea tetragona is an aquatic perennial, species of flowering plant commonly called pygmy waterlily and small white water lily, belonging to the family Nymphaeaceae.
Nymphaea immutabilis is a species of waterlily native to Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland, Australia.
50°37′02″N2°29′46″W / 50.6171°N 2.4962°W