Missouri Botanical Garden

We spent five warm, humid hours in the wonderful gardens created in 1859 by Henry Shaw. An Englishman who made his fortune in St. Louis and retired at the age of 39, Shaw spent the rest of his life developing Tower Grove as a garden for “the poor” of St. Louis to enjoy. He brought over a botanist from Kew Gardens in London and turned 79 acres of prairie grassland into a wonderful series of gardens.

A tram goes throughout the gardens but we opted to walk and enjoyed our wanderings. Because it is summer, several of the gardens are not in bloom. In the spring, this must be an overwhelmingly beautiful place.

The 34 garden areas include two rose gardens, a Center for Home Gardening, a Chinese Garden

Japanese Garden

A tribute to George Washington Carver

a Climatron which much like a conservatory. Dale Chihuly glass sculptures are featured in the entrance and in several gardens. The ones in this pond tilted and bounced in the breeze providing wonderful reflective shapes in the water.

a 9/11 Memorial

a daylily garden for breeding unusual color combinations and patterns

and a temporary Extreme Tree House display

Tower Grove, Shaw’s home, is divided into two sections. On one side are his two bedrooms and two sitting rooms which contain much of his original furnishings. The other side is where his slaves lived and worked. There are no remnants of what would have been his kitchen or outbuildings. Downstairs is a display about his slaves and implements that may have been used in the house or gardens.

Shaw is buried in a mausoleum near the home.

Outside his home is a lovely Victorian Garden. The sculpture of a child playing with a sundial is in a thyme garden.

Shaw also owned more than 200 acres nearby. His will requires that it be kept as a Victorian Park. It is a wonderful place with various picnic pavilions, places for recreation, and acres and acres of grass and trees.