Last summer Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles reopened after a 2 year restoration project. Today the northern tip of the lake boasts a beautiful lotus bed.

In the 1920s, lotuses appeared in the lake and they soon became a symbol of the neighborhood of Echo Park. In the early 2000s they began to die off and by 2008 they were gone. When the lake was being restored, the landscape architects wondered where they would find new lotuses for the lake. Fortunately a horticulturalist in Reseda, Calironia, Randy McDonald, had illegally stolen some of the lotuses. For years, he had been propagating them and even selling them at his plant nursery. Rumors had spread, and eventually the landscape architect found McDonald and ended up purchasing thirty thousand dollars worth of lotuses for the restored lake!

You can see the lotuses from the street, but for the best view rent a paddle boat so you can get out in the water and see these lovely flowers.

(image from laimyours.com)