A ‘Driving Force’ for Native Landscaping in St. Louis: Scott Woodbury
Earlier this summer, I interviewed long-time Wild Ones member Ann Case, and during our conversation, she quickly identified one man as the “driving force” for native landscaping in St. Louis: Scott Woodbury.
Scott certainly wouldn’t describe himself that way. When I talked with him this summer, he told me about the other people who helped start the St. Louis’ Wild Ones chapter. But Scott himself is the subject of our next profile in this series on our “keystone” members for the chapter’s 25th anniversary, so it’s time to give this garden champion his due.
Scott founded the St. Louis Wild Ones in 1998 and served as its first president, a role he held for about 15 years. You might also know him from the 30 years he spent leading development of the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Reserve. According to Scott, the story of native plants and Wild Ones begins there, with Blanton and Peg Whitmire.
“They gave the money to fund the wildflower garden, a garden that’s just native plants, a garden that’s just full of wildflowers,” Scott explains. “There aren’t many wildflower gardens, and there are only a handful that are supported by big institutions.”
Scott describes the Whitmires as not what you might imagine when you think of wealthy donors. They lived in a “tiny, tiny” house in Kirkwood, raising two children there, and the money they earned went right back into the community. Instead of lavish special-occasion gifts, Peg and Blanton would give each other gifts that benefited others. The Whitmire Wildflower Garden began as a birthday present for Peg. The Whitmires were the garden’s sole funders, with the Missouri Department of Conservation assisting with outreach.
Scott Woodbury and other volunteers at the 2006 Wild Ones Landscape Challenge
The job of stewarding the Whitmire Wildflower Garden is what brought Scott to St. Louis from Washington, DC, where he’d been finishing up his initial job out of horticulture school. “I dug the first shovelful of dirt,” says Scott.
The idea for a Wild Ones chapter came about 5-6 years later, when Scott invited Brett Rappaport––a past national Wild Ones president and active member of the Chicago chapter––to speak at a native-plant conference sponsored by Shaw Reserve. “Brett said, ‘You should consider starting a chapter here in St. Louis,’” Scott recalls. “He’d been to events around the country and said ours was stellar, one of the best he’d ever attended, and he saw what a huge audience we had.”
Scott attributes the Midwest’s grassroots spirit for the wild success of Wild Ones. The St. Louis chapter is now the largest in the country, at around 400 members. That’s more than quadruple what it was in the first few years, as Scott points out. “It’s amazing how far the chapter has come along. It’s really impressive. What we did back then is nothing compared to what it’s creating today.”
Scott Woodbury and other volunteers, including current Wild Ones President Marsha Gebhardt, at the 2014 Landscape Challenge
In June of this year, Scott retired from his work at Shaw to start his own consulting business, Cacalia Design and Wilding. It’s named after his favorite native plant, which he still refers to as “Cacalia” even though it’s gone through a botanical nomenclature change to Arnoglossom (Indian plantain is a common term). “It’s one that’s not super showy,” he says. “It’s a plant that has a lot of potential. The nursery industry should be using more of it. It has an amazing foliar texture, and one of the species has giant scallop leaves, like a hosta.”
Scott’s enthusiasm for gardening––and specifically native plants––has only grown over the years, but his one challenge remains. “The notion that natives are weedy or messy unfortunately persists,” he says. He’s committed to teaching people that natives can be used in conventional ways, if needed. “I want people to say, ‘Wow, I can do really cool things with native plants.’”
post by Lisa Brunette, chapter member and published novelist, game writer/designer, and journalist at www.brunettegardens.com
To learn more about our Keystone Member series and other members we are highlighting
visit: https://stlwildones.org/keystone-members/
