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Nature Is Amazing: You’ll Never Guess How Much Weight A Lily Pad Can Hold!

Stock image shows a small pond with several lily pads floating on the surface.

Lily pads are large, floating disks resembling round trays on ponds and lakes. In a viral post, Denver Botanic Gardens issued a social media challenge. The goal was to determine how much weight a lily pad can hold. Garden centers worldwide took up the challenge and sent videos showing their success. The Huntington, a garden, museum, and research library, was one of the contestants.

Videos by InspireMore

@thehuntington

Place your bets! It’s our first time participating in the Water Lily Weigh-Off challenge, let’s see how much our Victoria cruziana lily pad can hold 🪷 🏋️‍♀️ #WaterLilyWeighOff24 @Denver Botanic Gardens

♬ original sound – The Huntington

The Denver Botanic Gardens began the contest with a hefty 65 pounds of weight on their lily pad. The International Waterlily Weigh-Off was underway (or is that under weigh?). Seventeen teams tossed their pads in the pond to compete. When all the weight was measured, Missouri Botanical Garden won with a whopping 142.1 pounds on a giant lily pad spanning five feet across! Join DBG with a celebration that includes all the pomp and circumstance they could muster.

@denverbotanic

Announcing the 2024 Waterlily Weigh-Off Champion! 🏆   Thanks to the 17 participants of this epic botanical battle of wits and brawn. The challenge will continue in 2025, hopefully with even more contestants. Tag your local public garden below to get them to join!    Head to our profile highlights to see the full ranking. #waterlilyweighoff24 @mobotgarden @Naples Botanical Garden @Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh @The Toledo Zoo @FWBG @Atlanta Botanical Garden @NYBG @The Huntington @BrookgreenGardens @Brooklyn Botanic Garden @New England Botanic Garden

♬ original sound – Denver Botanic Gardens

A separate announcement includes final lily pad weight totals, team placement, and pad measurements for each competing team. While many of the teams were giving their best effort, a few’s lackluster performance might warrant a lecture from their coach. The three lowest teams posted some sad statistics.

Images show the lowest six teams from the lily pad weight contest.
Image from TikTok.

A toothpick? Seriously, San Diego Botanic Garden? At least we hope you placed the weight horizontally on the lily pad. Seven fresh acorns for New England Botanical Garden is only slightly better. We’ve seen squirrels that could put more than seven acorns in their mouth at once. We’re curious about the deck of cards. What constitutes “big”? Perhaps a Tarot deck or maybe a double deck?

DBG says this competition is already scheduled for next year. The competition (or at least the lily pads) will be stiff. Please share if you found this contest incredible.

You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.

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