One fairly warm winter day,
my son Christopher and I decided to see the Holiday Flower
and Train Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.
For us, it is one of our Christmas season traditions. This
year, the line to the greenhouse was exceptionally long.
Instead of walking right up to the door and handing the
volunteer our tickets like we have done in the past, we
waited and waited. That was when I noticed the large sign
probably for the first time in my life. Free garden tour
at 1 p.m. with the price of admission.
It wasn't very hard to talk Christopher into going on the
tour. At 8 years old, he eagerly absorbs all types of information.
Leslie Clark, our volunteer guide, was quite willing to
show the both of us around for more than an hour.
The first thing that Leslie told us was always look inside
the wooden cart that is located near the restaurant because
the fresh plant specimens that are placed inside the jars
show the public what is blooming in the garden and the numbers
next to the plant will tell you the general direction that
the specific plant can be found when you look at the map.
We didn't follow her advice later that day, but it did seem
like a fun task that might keep Christopher occupied for
hours on another day and time.
Next, Leslie took us into Henry Shaw's, founder of the Missouri
Botanical Gardens, greenhouse where the camellias were in
full bloom. She told us that camellias bloom from November
through January and not one of them have a fragrance. These
plants are from the Orient but amazingly when we walked
by the English Garden later that day, we saw one blooming
outdoors.
From the greenhouse we went through one of the rose gardens.
Leslie told us that every daffodil that grows in the spring
of 2008 will be destroyed before 2009 and explained that
not everything the Missouri Botanical Garden does makes
sense to her. When she mentioned 2009 again, she told us
that this garden opened to the public in the year 1859;
so 2009 will be its 150th birthday and many activities are
being planned now to make 2009 a spectacular one for the
garden.
After this, we strolled into Henry Shaw's country home and
took another tour where tapes and another speaker showed
their expertise about the life and times of Henry Shaw.
These three things, I felt, were the most important: Henry
Shaw was the mastermind behind The School of Botany at Washington
University in St. Louis, Tower Grove Park was built under
his direction and the Missouri Botanical Garden was created
for the enjoyment of the public. The Missouri Botanical
Gardens are located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis.
More information is available by calling (314) 577-9400
or (800) 642-8842 or online at www.mobot.org.
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