The Missouri Botanical Garden has an extensive collection of orchids with over 5,000 individual plants and 700 unique species. Nearly 1 in 10 species in the collection are threatened or endangered.
But this incredible collection, and in fact much of the Garden’s living collection, was almost wiped out in the 1920s.
These plants found a safe haven at Shaw Nature Reserve for nearly three decades. Under the guidance of the Garden’s first orchidologist, the study and propagation of orchids thrived at the Gray Summit location.
Nature for All. Nature Forever.
Since 1925, Shaw Nature Reserve has offered unparalleled opportunities to experience the natural landscapes of Missouri. In 2025 the Nature Reserve is celebrating its centennial year with specialized events, tours, and programs.
Orchid collection history
The Missouri Botanical Garden has a long and proud history of involvement with orchids.
Mrs. Henry T. Blow donated the first specimens in 1876. These plants had been collected by her husband while he served as Minister to Brazil under President Ulysses S. Grant.
By 1918, the Garden was hosting the largest public display of orchids ever held in St. Louis. Limited by today’s standards, the show was billed as an “orchid collection which excels all in the United States.”
Just two years later came the flowering of the first hybrid developed here at the Garden. It was a Paphiopedilum hybrid, the first of many.
In 1923, Garden scientist George Pring went to South American on a trip to collect orchids and other plants. He returned with 5,000 cattleyas, clearly a successful trip.
In 1926, the Garden established a tropical field station in Panama with the cooperation of the Canal Zone Government. Orchid collection began in earnest.
Smog in St. Louis threatens orchids, other collections
By the start of the 20th century, rapid industrialization and a population dependent on coal resulted in continual smog over St. Louis.
A large smoke cloud settled over the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1917, killing many orchids, chrysanthemums, and other plants. By 1923, few evergreens remained within the Garden’s living collection, and the survivors experienced little growth each year.
It became clear that the Garden needed a location away from the city to protect its sensitive plants.
garden seeks new home for endangered plants
In 1923, realizing the sensitive plants were in dire need of a new home, the Garden’s Board of Trustees began searching for a satellite location.
Their criteria included a location near a good road that was near an adequate water supply but isolated from neighboring tracks of land. The Garden also wanted a place with varying soils and topography, resources for building materials they’d need, and the presence of native plants.
In 1925, the Garden found a place that met all these criteria. Right along the Meramec River, and just off what would become the iconic Route 66 a year later, this 1,300-acre tract of land in Gray Summit was the perfect place to take the Gardens living collections.
By March 1925, the Garden had purchased the land and begun constructing the buildings needed to house and care for the orchids. This land is known today as Shaw Nature Reserve.
elinor linder: orchid expert
The orchid collection was quickly moved to the Nature Reserve and placed in a range of greenhouses built especially to house the collection.
In September 1926, Elinor Linder became the Garden’s orchidologist. She was largely responsible for orchid seedling department that was created in 1927.
Linder was a pioneer in growing orchids from seed and under her supervision, the Nature Reserve was home to more than 100,000 orchid specimens at various stages of growth by 1929.
Linder estimated that the Garden could germinate at least 50,000 orchids yearly using her cultivation method.
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Orchid Collection Gain National Recognition
Just a few years after moving to Shaw Nature Reserve (then known as the Gray Summit Extension), the Garden’s orchid collection made another long journey to Washington D.C.
At the fourth annual national exhibition of orchids given by the
American Orchid Society in 1930, the Garden sent an exhibit illustrating the development of orchids from seed to mature plant.
One hundred Erlenmeyer flasks contained the seedlings in various stages of growth from two weeks to eight months old. Demonstrations on removing seedlings from flask to thimble pots were given three times daily, and a special demonstration was given for the First Lady, Mrs. Lou Henry Hoover.
The Garden received the first prize for the exhibit. Elinor Linder received the gold medal for her horticultural effort in developing the growing of orchids from seed.
The Orchids Return to the Garden
Thanks to the passage of a Smoke Ordinance in St. Louis in 1937, the dark skies began to clear around the city. The Garden could breathe a little easier, and plans to relocate the entire living collection faded.
The orchid collection however remained at Shaw Nature Reserve until 1958.
Today, the Missouri Botanical Garden’s orchid collection still represents one of the largest and finest in the United States. The Garden has roughly 5,000 orchid plants, representing approximately 700 unique species, of which nearly one in ten are threatened or endangered.
These fragile plants are kept in the Garden’s green houses throughout the year, except during the annual Orchid Show. This show gives visitors the rare chance to admire the extensive collection up close and learn more about modern orchid conservation efforts.
Shaw Nature Reserve becomes leading voice for ecological restoration
A century after sheltering the Garden’s most fragile plants, Shaw Nature Reserve continues to be a safe haven for plants, with a focus on preserving Missouri’s native species.
Though the Nature Reserve never did become the permanent home of the Garden, it continues to carry out the vision the Board saw in the 1920s.
Now 2,400 acres, the Nature Reserve is a shining example of ecological restoration. Over the course of 100 years, the Nature Reserve has recreated and restored native prairies, wetlands, glades, and forests. It also manages invasive species that have rooted themselves in Missouri’s landscapes.
The Nature Reserve is also home to the Garden’s Seed Bank which currently holds more than 6,000 dormant accessions of seeds and fruits. Included in that number are more than one million native orchid seeds.
These dormant seeds are invaluable to conservation efforts at the Garden and Shaw Nature Reserve, as well as across Missouri and beyond.
2025 Orchid Show
Explore the Garden’s orchid collection February 1-March 9.
Jessika Eidson | Public Information Officer
Thanks to the Garden’s Education Team for gathering information and images used in this piece. Thanks to the Missouri Botanical Garden Archives and Peter H. Raven Library for providing images and information.
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