Daylilies

Went to Missouri Botanical Garden on July 1st in 95-degree heat -- the kind of heat and humidity that St. Louis is famous for. The garden is very shady due to the 100+ year old trees and it was fairly tolerable. Being a Friday with a heat advisory posted there were not many people and we had much of the garden to ourselves.

The major blooming 'show' was the daylilies in full regalia. They have a bazillion varieties...no two look alike.  These are some random pictures of the daylilies.

Float like a butterfly - sting like a bee

Mr. Shaw's Gift to the World

On May 3, 1819, Henry Shaw, a young upper class Englishman, landed in the small town of St. Louis, Missouri, with a large shipment of hardware products. He was only eighteen years old at the time but he soon started a hardware business and became one of the wealthiest men in St. Louis. He was the owner of a huge estate and became a famous botanist and collector after he retired at age 40.

After his death in 1889, his estate, known as "Shaw's Garden", was set aside as a botanical garden, along with Tower Grove Park, for the enjoyment of the people of St. Louis. Shaw was a man of his age and a shrewd businessman. He never married but that is another story. He also was a slave-owner but that was not unusual in pre-Civil War St. Louis...and that, also, is another story.

Shaw's Garden (as it is still known by most locals) became Missouri Botanical Gardens and is one of the leading botanical gardens and research institutions in the world.

The Italianate-style Tower Grove House was Shaw's country home and the center of his large estate. Today it is a house museum surrounded by herbal and Victorian-style gardens. Shaw is buried in a granite mausoleum in a grove of trees nearby.

Shaw spent his retirement years pursuing his love of botany. Being extremely wealthy, he was able to collect living plants from all over the world. He also collected botanical specimens, books and plant material and had to build a museum and library to house his collections. The library was built in 1858. It recently underwent renovation and is still in use as a library.

Shaw had a special greenhouse - his orangry - built in 1882. This is now the Linnean House, probably the oldest continually operated greenhouse west of the Mississippi River. Today it houses various types of cactus and dry climate plants from around the world.

 

Some of the Garden's Chihully glass collection...

Play Structures.... 

-- "Tree Houses" - temporary exhibit.

Sculptures in the Garden

There are dozens of sculptures scattered through the garden. This is a small one - about 15 inches square.

Memorial to victims of
the 9-11 attacks given
by Zimbabwe