October 2025 Garden Gathering Highlights
At the Cortex Commons Saturday, October 4, 2025
Photos and highlights by Donna Short
We met at the Cortex Commons which is a central gathering space located in the heart of the Cortex Innovation Community. Wild Ones Member Laura Arthur, who is also on the Cortex District Green Team, guided the tour.
The project, supported by a $5.1 million MSD Green Infrastructure Grant, was completed in 2016. It features 4 large bioretention basins, 43 street basins along Boyle and Duncan, and two native prairies installed in 2020. The landscape is managed by Focal Point, which partners with Cortex to enhance and grow the native plantscape and introduce integrated pest management practices while implementing all electric mowers, trimmers, and blowers into operations.
There are over 52 different plant species in the Cortex Commons and surrounding infrastructures of the Metro Plaza and Great Rivers Greenway Brickline path, including 43 species native to Missouri.
This sign explains their project goals and operational guidelines:
The prairie in fall bloom with Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima), Common Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) and Frost Aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum).
We walked along the Brickline path, which runs parallel to the Metro tracks. Native grasses include Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) which dominate the plantings here. There are several shallow rain basins with Shining Blue Star (Amsonia illustris) and irises.
Beneath the shade of a River Birch, Laura described the hands-on workshops she led at Cortex on collecting seeds, winter sowing, and installing seedlings which were designed to build community awareness and appreciation of native garden practices and land stewardship.
Native plant beds border the office areas providing a connection to nature during the work day.
Helen’s Flower (Helenium autumnale)
Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida)
A Soft landing created with Sedge and Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica) under this Sycamore.
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) and Threadleaf Bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii)
in one of the many stormwater basins along the street.
Laura was the winner of the 2023 Wild Ones St. Louis Landscape Challenge and hosted the 2025 September Garden Gathering at her home.
The transformation of Cortex Commons shows how urban innovation districts can also serve as thriving habitats, connecting people, plants, and pollinators in the heart of the city.
