Home of Premsri Barton
Wednesday Jul 8th and Saturday Jul 18th
Photos and highlights by Donna Short
Marsha Gebhardt, Wild Ones St Louis President, started with introductions and announcements.
We visited Prem previously in 2018 and returned this year to see what has happened in the last 8 years!
Prem in front of a garden area that includes Downy Skullcap in the foreground, extremely tall Joe Pye Weed on the right and a Fringe Tree in the background.
Prem’s property resembles a park with trees and garden pockets throughout the 1.3 acres which she began converting to native plants in 2012.
Plum Tree shown in the center
She became interested in native plants during family vacations to the National Parks and wanted to learn more. This led her to a class at Shaw Nature Reserve and Scott Woodbury who recommended Wild Ones.
Originally, Prem purchased plants from a magazine advertisement but they did not survive our climate. When she discovered Missouri Wildflowers Nursery, she drove there for grown in Missouri natives and a fresh start!
She deals with the challenge of invasives on an ongoing basis. Neighbors use honeysuckle and burning bush for privacy. Also, aggressive native plants, grapes and vines require control. Recently the deer invaded – but the abundance of Hosta plants in the area has provided a distraction. She has a strategy for dealing with rabbits by making sure unprotected plants outgrow the baby rabbits.
Snow-on-the Mountain (Euphorbia marginalia)
There is an abundance of birds but no feeders required due to the volume of plants, berries and bushes available year-round. She plants the sunflower family, particularly for the American Goldfinch.
American Bladdernut Tree (Staphylea trifolia)
She has an Elderberry grove and eight special areas which reflect various growing environments. The glade has been blooming for two months and we saw coneflowers, monarda, Mexican hat, rudbeckia, Royal Catchfly and some unusual glade plants.
Below is the glade.
Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera) shown on the left.
Yellow Glade Coneflowers (Echinacea paradoxa)
Yellow Wild Indigo (Batista sphaerocarpa)
The woodland area includes Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum), Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciousa) and more.
Prem has a few ongoing projects. She had red cedars surrounding her back porch that were looking tired so she trimmed the branches and uses the structures as trellises for coral honeysuckle and other vines.
Eastern Red Cedars (Juniperus Virginiana) serving as a trellis for Passion Flowers (Passiflora incarnate)
Also, Prem added a border along the length of her yard where she planted little bluestem, purple coneflowers and others. Note the rock border consists of rocks Prem salvaged from falling rock at Dougherty Ferry.
Prem says her plants grow where they want to – this is not Buckingham Palace! She began volunteering at Shaw Nature reserve in 2011 and is still volunteering there. As a member of Wild Ones St. Louis since 2012, Prem has been sharing her cheerfulness, knowledge, enthusiasm – and her yard!
Plant sharing abundance! Plants on the table as well as additional plants in the other side of the driveway.
Thank you, Prem, for sharing your garden with us!
