Last updated: July 24, 2024
Place
Information Panel: Display Pools
NPS / Kelsey Graczyk
Display Pools
Marketing a wide variety of aquatic plants, especially tropical lilies, contributed to the success of the Shaw Gardens. The concrete display pools, also referred to as display ponds, installed between 1912 and 1927, played a crucial role in boosting sales.
After passing the winter in the greenhouse, tropical water lilies spent a brief time in the display pools as temperatures warmed. Once adjusted to outdoor conditions, they were moved to the main ponds.
Display pools shown in catalogs from Shaw Gardens dating to the 1930s, helped customers realize what a similar pool might look like in their own backyard.
"A tasteful lily pool will actually add many times its small cost to the value of your property"
- Shaw Gardens
Catalog, 1933.
An Up-Close View
The display pools gave visitors and customers a closer look at new lotus and lily hybrids, many of which could also be found in the larger ponds.
Some of the lilies that visitors would see in these pools, had names relevant to the times or described some aspect of the flowers. Hybrids such as: Nymphaea Pink Opal; 'Suffragette, and General Pershing' proved popular.