Latour-Marliac was bigger than I had expected. The site covers about 5 acres, with about one-third of that devoted to water lily production. The rest consists of a pond that resembles the one at Giverny, a small museum, a tropicals greenhouse with the giant Victoria Cruziana inside, a waterfall, and lots of nicely landscaped grounds that are puncuated by groves of 30 foot high bamboo and trickling springs.

To enter Latour-Marliac is to step into another world. The property is nestled amidst plum orchards on three sides, and abuts the village on the fourth. In the background on the village side rises the church tower, which was built onto an old bastion of the Knights Templar, who apparently were all over this part of France. When I was there in mid-June, in addition to seeing thousands of spectacular water lily blooms up close, I was serenaded by just as many frogs, and watched two electric blue European King Fishers swoop in and out of the lily ponds to catch fish.

The part of Latour-Marliac that I found most interesting was the pools that were constructed by Latour-Marliac around 1870. These consist of different geometric/oblong shapes, and they are surrounded by terra cotta pots that were used by Latour-Marliac and his successors in the propagation of water lilies. It is here, in these pools, where the National Water Lily Collection of France is meticulously maintained. There are over 200 varieties represented. Since nearly all of them are also grown in the 70 different growing pools, which were constructed at various points during the 20th century, they are also available for purchase (a few rare varieties fetch over 300 euros per plant).

Though all this beauty and history may make you forget, Latour-Marliac is a privately owned enterprise, as it has been since 1875. They run a Europe-wide water lily mail order business from here, and sell water lilies and other aquatic plants on site to walk-ins. There is also a boutique that sells souvenirs and some very nice mnerchandise for the home and garden, some of it Latour-Marliac brand. The new owner of the company, who is committed to restoring and preserving the property, says he will be adding a terrasse where visitors will be able to have lunch from 2008, and where evening concerts will be regularly held.