Helen Shaw Fowler and Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Civil war veteran Walter B. Shaw and his wife Luciana Miller purchased what is now known as Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in 1879. Shaw was a gardener with a special interest in aquatic gardening. Cultivating the same passion in their daughter Helen, they developed a successful business raising and selling water lily and lotus varieties.

By 1911, Helen Shaw Fowler took over the management of the gardens. In 1912, the Shaws created the W.B. Shaw Lily Ponds. They were soon the country’s largest exporter of cut water flowers. During this time the Shaws experimented with hybridization and propagation. They marketed 63 varieties of plants, some found nowhere else in the country due in part to the unique ecology of the area. Helen became sole proprietor of the business after her father’s death in 1921.

Also an artist, Helen often sketched and painted plants. Many of these illustrations were used in the Shaw Gardens brochures including: Nymphaea odorata ‘W.B. Shaw' featuring fragrant, rose pink flowers; N. odorata ‘Helen Fowler’ with fragrant, deep pink flowers paling towards the tips of the petals; and N. odorata ‘Luciana’ featuring fragrant, rose pink flowers. Several of Shaw Fowler’s works are included in this exhibit and provide a view into the diversity of water lily and lotus varieties available in the gardens during her time.

Since the NPS acquired Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in 1938, the park has evolved to become the only NPS unit devoted to the propagation and display of aquatic plants. It includes Kenilworth Marsh, the only remaining tidal marsh in Washington, D.C. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens remains a popular attraction for visitors and also serves as an important habitat for wildlife and provides researchers with study sites to advance knowledge in many fields of biology and ecology.

Part of a series of articles titled
Natural History in the National Capital Area.

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