The Lily Pads are floating sculptures commissioned for a lake at the Himalayan gardens. Rebecca already has 2 other floating sculptural installations in other lakes nearby, Wave and Magnolia.
The installation is a playful sculptural response to the extensive plant collections found at the Himalayan gardens. Acid soil loving plants originate from the East and would have been collected by Victorian plant hunters. This passionate collection of ericaceous plants includes waxy camellias, Magnolia, rhododendron and species of water lily.
As a visitor descends into the valley garden, the pads are glimpsed through the trees and as the path meanders you pass flowers the same colours as the 5 floating sculptures. The sculptures are each anchored and float within a circumference, creating an everchanging configuration.
The pads are symbolically the energy panels of aquatic plants, converting the sun’s photons via photosynthesis into energy to make plants healthy and vigorous. In different cultures, the lotus and water lily represent different ideas related to life cycles, rebirth and regeneration.
The 5 pads celebrate Amazonia Victoriana, a giant water lily species which was named in honour of Queen Victoria.
