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Ask the Garden: Your Tree Questions

The Missouri Botanical Garden is celebrating its colorful fall foliage with Tree Week from October 29 to November 4. The week will highlight the Garden’s impressive tree collection, and the staff who care for it, with tours and other opportunities for guests to learn more about it. As part of that focus, we’d also like to…

Spotlight on Science: Dr. Robbie Hart

Dr. Robbie Hart Assistant Curator, High Elevation Ethnobotany and GLORIA Robbie Hart has always been a mountain man. No, he doesn’t sport a long beard and flannel apparel, but since Hart was a kid, he’s loved spending his days immersed in the unique ecosystems of the mountains. He grew up above Port Angeles, Washington, in…

Plant Profile: Corpse Flower

Perhaps one of the most sensational plants at any botanic garden, the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) always draws a crowd. This impressive species is known for its size, smell, and the relative rarity of its bloom. What is it? The corpse flower is a member of the Araceae family, also referred to as the aroid…

Saluting Branches Day of Service

Arborists from across the St. Louis region descended on Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, then ascended into the trees and went to work. Armed with everything from rakes and pole pruners to chainsaws and chippers, these tree care professionals had one goal in mind—to make the cemetery canopy safer, and more beautiful for visitors. The collaborative…

Air Plant Upkeep

Tillandsias, commonly known as air plants, are popular house plants because of their unique, spiky shape and a notion that they’re easy to care for. In truth, the plants can actually be a little tricky. Light and water are the two most important factors to consider when caring for your air plant. Air plants like…

Queen Butterflies Spotted in St. Louis

Late summer is the perfect time to view one of our area’s showiest pollinators, the monarch butterfly. But this year, it’s not the only royal visiting the St. Louis region. Tad Yankoski, Entomologist at the Butterfly House, says two queen butterflies (Danaus gilippus) have recently been spotted around town. The queen is a cousin of…

From the Library: Rebuilding the Bateman Book (Part 5)

Conservation work on the Peter H. Raven Library’s copy of The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala has begun! Follow along as we document this painstaking restoration of one of the largest and grandest volumes in the Garden’s rare book collection. What Is Alum? Alum is an aluminum salt that has been used for hundreds of years to process…

Propagating Perennials

As the sun sets on summer, it’s time to start thinking about dividing your perennials. The end of July through September is the best time to divide most spring and summer blooming perennials, like irises and peonies, because it gives them a chance to develop good root systems before cold weather sets in. Given proper care,…

From the Library: Context be Damned | Bacon’s New Atlantis

Francis Bacon is largely known for his Novum Organum Scientiarum (the philosophy that established the scientific method), Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human (proposing that higher education of everyone is beneficial to society as a whole), and New Atlantis. It is this last tract in Bacon’s oeuvre that is most misunderstood—and in…

From Classroom to Career | 3 Teachers Who Inspired Garden Researchers to Pursue Science

As the school year starts up once again, students across the country are getting to know their new teachers. Those teachers will help students learn and grow throughout the school year, and some will likely make impacts that last lifetimes and shape careers. Many members of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s research staff were inspired by…

Spotlight on Science: Dr. Pete Lowry

Dr. Pete Lowry Senior Curator and Director of the Africa & Madagascar Program When Pete Lowry thinks about the beginnings of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s work in Madagascar, he is still taken aback by what the program has become. Lowry was among the first Garden scientists who traveled to Madagascar decades ago to collect plants…

Be Inspired: Go Outside

Save the Earth. It’s an inspiring but daunting call to action. In a world where time and resources seem to be more scarce, it’s hard to think about what you can do to help. However, every small action has a ripple effect. Plant More. Use Less. Go Outside. Three small actions that can lead to…