Visitors can stroll down a winding boardwalk to view scores of magnificent waterlilies and lotuses 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 Aquatic Garden's featured plants is the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), immortalized in literature, religion, and history for its purity of bloom. Depictions of the 2-foot-wide leaves and 8-inch pale pink flowers arising above the water from the muddy depths are legendary.