Leave the Leaves this fall season

During the early winter months, the colorful fall foliage we enjoyed just days before begins to find its way into our yards and lawns. For some, these leaves become an eyesore, but for the bugs that stay with us throughout the winter, they play a vital role. Why leave the leaves? As your gardens fade…

Herbs of the Mediterranean

The St. Louis Herb Society Herb Sale returns to the Missouri Botanical Garden with a focus on Mediterranean herbs.

Plastic Pot Recycling: Update and Perspective 

Missouri Botanical Garden has been tracking and supporting plastic pot recycling issues and options for many years. This spring, we regret to report that public plastic pot recycling will not resume.  Wasn’t Plastic Pot Recycling “suspended” for 2020-21? Why is it being ended now?  The collection program did not re-start as usual in spring 2020,…

A Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion at the Garden

One year ago this week, Missouri Botanical Garden President Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson shared the commitment of the Garden to create an inclusive and welcoming community within the Garden and the communities we serve and work in in order to further the mission of the Garden, “to discover and share knowledge about plants and their…

Dr. Peter Raven Recounts the Creation of the Japanese Garden

In his nearly 40 years as Missouri Botanical Garden President, Dr. Peter Raven oversaw a period of unprecedented growth, including the creation of some of the Garden’s most beloved areas — the Margaret Grigg Nanjing Friendship Garden (Chinese Garden), Blanke Boxwood Garden, and English Woodland Garden among them. In his autobiography Driven by Nature: A…

Purple Martins Resume Seasonal Residence at the Garden

Perhaps you have seen them while visiting the Missouri Botanical Garden’s William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening — large white, multi-compartment birdhouses on poles about 14 feet high. In spring and summer, the housing is fully occupied by purple martins (Progne subis), a swallow species. St. Louis today is possibly home to the largest…

The Plight of the Monarch and What You Can Do to Help

A welcome visitor to gardens, and sure sign summer is coming to an end when seen in large groups, monarch butterflies are a staple of St. Louis scenery and landscapes across the country. But their numbers are dwindling, scientists say. Shrinking Numbers and Endangered Status In July 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature,…

In Praise of Parsley

As the St. Louis Herb Society prepares its first-ever online herb sale, the group sings the praises of parsley, its herb of the year.  “My goal is to bring parsley back as a valued and important herb in cooking. It is too easily dismissed,” says Anne Cori, Herb Society member and owner of Kitchen Conservatory….