Photos: Lovely water lilies in Broad Branch Stream

Updated with more details on the location of the pond.

by Marlene Berlin

We’ve recommended Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in northeast DC for its spectacular show of lily pads and blossoms. Now we have a neighborhood spot to enjoy the blooms – in miniature.

Broad Branch Stream, at Linnean Avenue and Broad Branch Road, now has lily pads. They’re in only one of the stream’s pools so far, though the pools with consistent water were seeded as early as 2014.

The water lilies are in the second pool to the west of Linnean. It is not easy to get to this pool. It is hidden by a lot of grasses that have grown around it.

Keith Underwood is the head of Underwood Associates, the contractor for the the DC Department of Energy and the Environment’s Broad Branch Stream daylighting project. He says these water lilies were planted in 2015. He writes:

The Nymphaea Odorata or Fragrant Water Lily planted at Broad Branch in 2015 was initially taken from Hines Pond in Pasadena, MD, a coastal province. While its referred to as the white water lily to distinguish it from spadderdock the yellow flowered (Bullhead lily), the white fragrant species comes in a range of colors from white to pink to red. This species is a PEAT FORMING species which can form bogs over time. (GOOD)

Now we don’t have to drive across the city to see lily pads, though it is still worth the drive.