The 2026 Waterlily Weigh-Off, led by Denver Botanic Gardens, will take place August 17-26 and the winner will be announced on August 28.
The global competition challenges an impressive list of public gardens and zoos around the world to see how much weight their Victoria waterlily leaves can hold. The 2025 competition had more than 40 entries! The friendly and light-hearted competition gets people excited about plants while raising awareness of public gardens and their important work promoting sustainability and biodiversity.
Follow on Instagram at @waterlilyweighoff. Participants can also post entries on their organization’s TikTok channel. Public gardens and zoos can contact Rachel.Smallbrooks@botanicgardens.org if they want to participate. A separate nursery and home garden competition is expected to also take place.
You should sell tickets as a fundraiser for the Gardens to watch the weigh off at your location! My daughter is an enormous fan of the challenge and it would be an incredible core memory to see one in person 🙂