Forest Park East Waterways Project
Forest Park
Saturday Oct 10, 9:30 am
The October Garden Gathering was held in Forest Park at the East Waterways Project. The group gathered for a brief welcome by Marsha Gebhardt, Wild Ones St Louis President. She introduced Nick Selby, our Tour Guide.
Nick is the Horticulture Superintendent at Forest Park Forever, where he oversees the teams responsible for horticultural care across Forest Park. Before stepping into his current role, he worked directly in the field and was responsible for the installation of the East Waterways project landscapes.
His work combines 7 years of hands-on horticultural experience with an interest in native plants, resilient landscape strategies, and the practical challenges of creating and maintaining ecological landscapes in an urban park.
The East Waterways Project, completes a decades-long vision to create an interconnected waterway across Forest Park. The 2.5-mile Taylor Kindle River, established as part of The River Returns project, first brought this vision to life in the late 1990s. The River follows the route of the River Des Peres which is piped below ground. Together with the riparian buffer around it, the river system is beloved by Park visitors and an important corridor providing water, shelter and forage for wildlife. The waterway is home to ducks, turtles, mink, egrets, herons and more which makes it the perfect environment for native plants.
The recirculating waterfall and overlook of Jefferson Lake at Clayton Avenue, the Lake’s south end. Native plantings on both sides of the falls.
Layers of plantings on either side of the waterfall provide fall color variety: Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) and Purple Lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis) shown here.
View of Jefferson Lake from the overlook
Dozens of new trees and other plantings line the new sections of the waterway and the southern shores of Jefferson Lake.
Shown here a Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum).
Rain garden planted in 2025. Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima) and Hairy Aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum) blooming.
Forest Park Forever’s entire staff helped plant over 3,400 plants in one day to bring the East Waterways project closer to completion in spring 2025.
Hardy Canna (Thalia dealbata) planted along the entrance to the boardwalk
Illinois Bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis) spent blooms
Great day for a Fall walk! The ADA-accessible boardwalk provides access to the lake edge from Clayton Avenue and from the recreational path, enabling another way to experience the water and the wildlife attracted to it.
Thank you to Nick for a great tour. He was a wealth of information and answered the constant questions he was asked throughout the tour. It was obvious from his enthusiasm that this project is a labor of love for him and that he enjoys discussing all aspects of native plants! Nick was happy to receive a complimentary membership to Wild Ones St. Louis and is looking forward to attending the Annual Meeting and Seed Exchange in November.
More details and the source for this information is available at https://www.forestparkforever.org/eastwaterways
