Lotus Pond
Lotus Pond
We were at Atlanta attending the Gift and Furnishing show last week. Thanks to the sometimes mysterious directions given by the GPS, we missed a few turns driving through residential roads and made a unexpected discovery … a lotus pond in the front yard of an older ranch style house.
The owner charges $3 to fish in the pond. Lucky for us, it is free to enjoy the scenery. Although the blooming season has passed, and there were more seed pods drying out than the actual lotus flowers, I was delighted to see them all the same. We got out of the car and took some pictures.
I have not seen a real lotus pond since grade school. I remembered standing in front of a large pond full of white and light pink lotus flowers in Taiwan years ago. The light breeze swung the blossoms making them dance in a sea of green round leaves under the warm spring sun. I don’t remember what else we did that day, but mom probably bought a bag of fresh seeds to make some chilled sweet soup for the hot days ahead. In Chinese medicine, the lotus seeds help cool down the body. They are part of nature’s gift to help us cope with the hot tropical summer.
I was asked once, “What’s the difference between Lotus & Water Lily?”
Lotus flowers “stand” above the water, and water lily blossoms “float”. I think that is the easiest way to tell. Also, each lotus flower has a seed pod in the center but a water lily blossom does not. I guess that explains why I don’t remember having sweet soup from water lily seeds. Now I think of it, I haven’t had a bowl of the lotus seed soup in a long time either.
Lotus Flowers & Young Seed Pods
