Whether you’re a novice or an expert, the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Kemper Center for Home Gardening, the largest nonprofit gardening help center in North America, offers gardening help for all levels on both indoor and outdoor plant care.
Category: Home Gardening
Garden Weather Station Turns 10
This intriguing machine offers crucial information to the Garden, which has evolved in use over time, and celebrates its 10 year anniversary in 2022.
Wrapping Up a Hard Year for Home Gardening
It was a tough year for gardeners across the region. Here’s how to put your garden to bed for the season If you’re ready for a fresh start next spring.
Saving Potted Mums
Mums are a staple in fall gardens. With a little extra care, they can bloom again year after year and save you from making an annual purchase.
Native Plants Monarchs Love
In July 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature officially designated the monarch butterfly as an endangered species. The IUCN Red List, of which the Garden is a contributing partner, is considered the world’s leading authority on conservation status of species. The designation is a big step for monarch conservation, but also left many…
Heat-tolerant Plants
As St. Louis and much of the surrounding area experience another round of triple-digit temperatures, the plants around us are feeling it too. Hot, sunny weather will dry out soils quickly. With less water available for the roots to absorb, leaves and stems may start to wilt and flag. An occasional deep, slow watering should…
Plant Profile: St. John’s Wort
As interest grows in native plants, some gardeners may be wondering what kinds of options are available to add to their own backyards. From our experts at the William T. Kemper Home Gardening Center comes a suggestion for a native, flowering shrub with an eye-catching bark: Hypericum prolificum, or St. John’s wort. The unique, layered bark…
Honeysuckles Explained
Most gardeners cringe at the word “honeysuckle” these days. But not all species of honeysuckle are bad. Here, the William T. Kemper Home Gardening Center explains which native species you should plant in your garden to attract pollinators and which invasive species you should eradicate wherever possible.
2022 Plants of Merit
Every year since 1998, the Missouri Botanical Garden has partnered with other regional horticultural institutions to select Plants of Merit. Plants of Merit are chosen for outstanding quality and dependable performance in Missouri, southern and central Illinois, and the Kansas City metro area. To qualify as a Plant of Merit, the plants must be easy to…
Controlling Common Insect Pests in Your Garden
Spring means new life and new beginnings, not only for plants but also for the insects that have evolved to eat them. Dealing with insect pests is best done when populations are small and before infestations get out of hand. As we here at the William T. Kemper Home Gardening Center look ahead to a busy growing season, we…
Chemical-Free Weed Control
Spring is upon us, and the signs of the changing seasons are all around: tulip leaves poking out of the soil, blooming magnolias, and weeds appearing in garden beds. This early in the season, these weeds seem innocuous enough, but soon they will be blooming and forming seed. Here are our tips for controlling unwanted…
Starting Seeds Inside in Winter
As cold temperatures and snow and ice persist, late winter has many gardeners missing their time planting outdoors. But this period is the perfect time to start planting certain vegetable seeds indoors. The William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening shares the following advice on seeding indoors in late winter. Seeds to start Cool season…