A giant water lily growing in Florida recently held 285 pounds without immediately sinking beneath the surface.
Rather than remaining an isolated horticultural experiment, this feat made Bok Tower Gardens the champion of a surprisingly competitive international contest.
People reported on Sept. 1 that the Waterlily Weigh-Off currently includes over 70 gardens, zoos, parks and growers, all spanning 13 countries. Participants pile weight onto enormous Victoria water lily leaves and share the results online.
Just as remarkably, a competition of this size began only three years ago at Denver Botanic Gardens. So, how are other gardens holding up in this annual social media phenomenon?
The Winning Weight Keeps Getting Heavier
Embedded media follows. Please allow a moment for it to load.
View this post on Instagram
Denver Botanic Gardens launched the Waterlily Weigh-Off in 2023 after its social media team began speculating how much weight one of its Victoria water lilies could support. The garden then challenged other institutions to try the same thing.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew won that first year with a 96-pound attempt. Missouri Botanical Garden raised the record to a monumental 142.1 pounds in 2024. Bok Tower Gardens then took the title in 2025 with 183 pounds.
Then, this August, Bok Tower Gardens returned to rewrite its own record. Its 67.5-inch leaf supported 285 pounds, more than 100 pounds beyond the garden’s winning total from the previous year, according to People.
While not a formal metric for winning the competition, the trend has also come to include showmanship as part of the game. People reports that participants now watch one another’s videos and draw inspiration from how other gardens stage their entries.
“We’re always, I think, kind of inspiring each other and uplifting each other,” Rachel Small-Brooks, assistant manager of social media and communications at Denver Botanic Gardens, said. “That’s really just, like, the spirit of the competition.”
Denver also added a “featherweight” category in 2026 for smaller lilies with particularly creative videos, while gardens have built entries around everything from tater tot casserole to Jurassic Park and The Office.
The Secret is Under the Lily Pad
Victoria water lilies can grow enormous leaves, but size alone does not explain why they can stay afloat under so much added weight. Much of the answer actually lies underneath.
On Aug. 19, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew explained that large channels in the leaf’s veins fill with air, helping to keep the leaf buoyant. The underside is further reinforced by a network of ribs that helps support the broad surface above.
Kew demonstrated strength to an extreme degree during this year’s competition. One Victoria boliviana leaf supported botanical horticulturist Martin Silnevs plus his equipment, all combined for a total of 224.87 pounds. Only when another person joined him did the leaf finally buckle.
Another pad held 178.5 pounds of canned baked beans. That’s a lot of fiber!
Why would the plants evolve to have such extreme weight-bearing capabilities? As reported by People, Small-Brooks explained that their enormous leaves developed to spread across the water’s surface, where they can compete for sunlight and space.