Visiting the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis
My daughter and I just drove out to L.A. from New Hampshire and had great fun visiting the sites along the way. I was happy to recapture the Autumn leaf color change as we drove through the states from North East to far west. We even had snow in Albuquerque, N.M.! We took some long stops to rest and enjoy national and regional parks, get some good meals, visit family and just have some fun.
One of our stops along the way was the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. What an incredible place this is! Not only an Arboretum and home of many themed gardens but also a huge research Herbarium used for the study of plant uses in medicine and agriculture, cataloguing lost species and continued taxonomy study. The cafe in the welcome center has some interesting pages from the Herbarium mounted in glass windows for guests to see.
Among the themed gardens is a huge domed Conservatory (shown above) with a tropical jungle inside. Here I am standing by some glass art that looks like snake heads! Several waterfalls, towering philodendrons and other tropical trees plus cascades of climbing vines shelter the tender plants and increase the humidity in the building. We were there on a November day with some sprinkles outside, so happily spent the morning exploring the environs of this wonderous place. My daughter especially loved seeing the Cocoa Pods and Coffee berries sprouting from trunks of trees and even a Pineapple growing out of its rigid grassy base clump.
Another favorite was the lovely Japanese Garden and pond. I loved the unique raked stone borders with small islands of bonsai trees and shrubs- a lovely design! There was also the largest Koi (carp) that we had ever seen. They don’t look so big in the pictures but most were over 18-24″ long and fat!
I was also impressed with the garden beds containing the freshest looking assortment of salad and garden greens I have ever seen. They mixed in flowers to give a very colorful affect. A fellow visitor remarked that she wished she brought her salad dressing!
Visiting in November we caught some of the set-ups for the Christmas light show- Pretty even in the day.
Over 72 Acres, the gardens are extensive and filled with themed areas including a Chinese garden, children’s garden, rose garden, ornate maze, an English garden with beautiful flower beds, demonstration gardens for the home gardener, and a Turkish Ottoman Empire garden with inner courtyards. We also visited the Orangery- and indoor space used to hold Citrus and tender flowering plants in the winter.
For a more extensive write up and photo gallery of this garden and many others, join my Travelogue course where I give information on public and Botanical gardens across the U.S. and abroad.
Now that I am back in Los Angeles, I will continue to add to the blog, visit gardens, work on my cartoon, do craft projects and have fun with my family- especially my grand daughters! They are happy to have their partner in crime back at home. Thanks for following my adventures and if you are in St. Louis, visit this beautiful place, listen to some blues and have some BBQ. It’s all good.
