By Byron Holston
Lilypons Water Gardens is set up and geared towards people who wish to build there own water gardens. However, with its’ large amount of water lilies and abundance of plants, birds and other animals it is quickly becoming a hot spot for birding and photography.
Located on 300 acres of land in Buckeystown, Maryland, Lilypons contains over 50 ponds with different types and colors of Water Lilies, bog plans and fish.
Lilypons has there own resident ‘bird expert’ who leads a guided walk every Thursday from 10 to 11 (cost is $3). If you’re here for photography you might be better off just walking on your own. Their guide is friendly and very knowledgeable and he knows where the birds are, but you tend to move at a very brisk pace to get in as many bird sightings as possible. You’ll want more time to setup and compose your shots. One hour is not enough when you want to take pictures also.
Depending on what time you get there, you should have a choice of things to photograph. If you get there when it opens, you should see a lot of Egrets and Herons. Once the crowds start to arrive, the larger birds tend to fly off for other areas of the gardens. However, that’s usually when the sun has gotten too high in the sky anyways. At this point water lilies, snakes and other ‘pond critters’ is what I normally turn my attention to. While the bright sun isn’t ideal for this either, you can still get some nice shots with some cloud cover or creative composition.
A couple things to consider when visiting Lilypons, its hours of operation are not ideal for getting the ‘good light’ for photography. March through September they’re open Mon-Sat from 9:30 to 5:30. On Sundays they’re open 10:30 to 5:30. October through February they’re open 9:30 to 4:30 Mon-Sat and closed on Sundays. Also, since you will be doing some walking (no paths for cars to travel on) make sure you bring some decent boots. While some of the paths are gravel covered or worn down well, there is still a lot of mud to trundle through if you venture down some of the less traveled paths. Also, there are some snakes and good sized snapping turtles (20 inches!!) out there, getting too close to one with sandals on might not be pleasant. Last but not least… bug spray! They are out there and they bite!!!!
Lilypons Water Gardens
6800 Lilypons Road, Box 10
Buckeystown, MD 21717
1-800-999-5459