New Gardens at MBG

By Steffie Littlefield

Most avid gardeners in the St Louis metro area are frequent visitors to our own Missouri Botanical Garden, and take great pride in its displays and global impact in conservation work. We all are amazed and curious about all the changes going on there, which can be seen from as far away as Hwy 44. The big news is that the Missouri Botanical Garden has broken ground on the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center, a project that will transform the visitor’s experience, sustain the Garden’s future and contribute to a growing cultural renaissance in St Louis. I am happy to share some information with my fellow gardeners about the thrilling new garden displays that are included.

A large part of this project is the new entrance garden for This rendering of the new Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center at Missouri Botanical the Jack C Taylor Garden shows some of the new garden planting areas. Visitor Center, because it will connect visitors, members and the Don’t Miss A Single Issue general public, with the mission of the Garden before they even enter a building. The landscaping of this garden will feature plants that highlight the Missouri THE GatewayGardener® Botanical Garden’s research work in Missouri and around the world. Notable features include rare plants from around the world, a fountain, a sloped walkway, and seating within the multilayered open woodland planting. The new entrance garden will contain 350 species and 30,500 individual plants. It’s exciting to note that 47% Don’t have a convenient pickup spot near you, or the rack of the plants in this garden will be new to displays at is empty when you get there? Just complete this form and the Missouri Botanical Garden and 25% of the plants mail it with $24 for postage and handling to the address in this garden are native to Missouri. And on the whole below. You will receive 7 issues (a one-year subscription) list, 42% of plants are native to the U.S. In keeping with beginning with the next issue. the Garden’s tradition of conservation, 34% of the plants

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Please make your check payable to The Gateway Gardener and mail it with this form to: The Gateway Gardener • PO Box 220853 St. Louis, MO 63122 Steffie Littlefield is a St Louis area horticulturist and garden designer. She has degrees from St. Louis Community College at Meramec and Southeast Missouri State and is a member of Gateway Professional Horticultural Association, Missouri Botanical Garden Members Board and past president of the Horticulture Co-op of Metropolitan St. Louis. She is part-owner of Edg-Clif Winery, Potosi, MO. www.Edg-Clif. com.

This illustration shows the locations of the new gardens. The illustration is oriented so the front entrance appears to the right side.

are scarce and their survival is of concern and being insured by inclusion in this garden. The garden areas will also showcase places where the Garden has active conservation/research projects allowing the visitor to engage and experience the impact of this research. Those areas include:

• Eastern Europe • The Caucuses (Red List work and plant conservation) • Central Asia (conservation horticulture) • China (Flora of China and subsequent research) One might ask how the garden can grow such a diverse list of plants in such a small area. The landscape and indeed soils on the site will be organized according to biomes. This allows us to aggregate plants together needing similar growing conditions from across large geographic ranges. For instance we have grassland species from North America, Central Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe represented in the grassland biome beds, which have all adapted to similar growing conditions. The soil chosen for the woodland biomes has a lot more organic material than the soil for the grasslands biome which is much more free draining.

By creating this extensive entrance garden with the educational and conservation aspects within a relaxing and pleasing environment for the visitor, the Garden harks back to the original mission of Henry Shaw, its founder. He opened his own private lands, 185 years ago, for the community to enjoy and to enhance the cultural environment of St Louis.

All who want to learn more can visit the Mobot.org website and watch the live feeds of the construction process in progress.

Members have the opportunity to join in a Speaker Series Presentation on June 22, 2021, 11-12pm. This is virtual conversation with Andrew Wyatt, the garden’s Sr. Vice President of Horticulture and Living Collections and Michael Vergason, Principal at Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Ltd.

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