The Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter is proud to have the capacity to provide financial support to some outstanding local organizations that share our mission. This is possible for two primary reasons; the $9 we receive from every St. Louis chapter membership, and the profits from our spring plant sale at Shaw Nature Reserve.
We want everyone to know about the four organizations we currently sponsor, so we will feature each one during a series of posts here, on our website blog.
We will start with our oldest sponsorship: Shaw Nature Reserve and its Native Plant School. Three others will follow: St. Louis Audubon Society’s Bring Conservation Home, Missouri Prairie Foundation’s GrowNative!, and the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center.
Special thanks to our membership and additional thanks to those volunteers who work the annual SNR plant sale.
Wild Ones – Shaw Nature Reserve Profile
by Erin Goss, Chapter member and Native Plant Initiative Coordinator for Shaw Nature Reserve
Imagine walking through a garden full of smooth phlox (Phlox paniculata), bunchflower (Melanthium virginicum), and Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum) blooming throughout. The garden sits atop a rock wall covered in the cascading green and faint yellow of budding cliff goldenrod (Solidago drummondii). Bright red flashes of royal catchfly (Silene regia) poke above the delicate, fine-bristled foliage of bluestar (Amsonia ciliata). You stop to smell the bluestar and notice an Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillar munching on a member of the carrot family nearby. Turning the corner, a vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) shades a patch of wild ginger (Asarum canadense) and pink root (Spigelia marilandica) gathers comfortably under a black walnut (Juglans nigra).
Up a stamped concrete pathway enveloped by groundcovers of all shades, a patio welcomes your aching legs, so you sit. Now look up – through a grove of yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea) and a sea of verdant beakgrain (Diarrhena obovata), tall grass prairie is visible and a trail meanders through inviting you to wander further into the wild. Welcome to the Whitmire Wildflower Garden, the Midwest’s premier native plant demonstration garden.
Whether you are just starting out gardening with natives or an experienced native gardener, the Whitmire Wildflower Garden is an excellent place to observe over 500 Missouri native species as groundcovers, companion plants, in rock gardens, cottage gardens, woodland gardens, formal gardens, informal gardens, aquatic gardens and more. Here, horticulture meets education.
In addition to the outdoor experience, and thanks to the generous support of the Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter and the Missouri Department of Conservation, Native Plant School classes are offered on-site monthly. Topics ranging from Ecological Gardening to Propagation to Edible Natives to Cut Flowers to Formal Garden Design and Maintenance. You can sign up through the Missouri Botanical Garden class catalog. We’d love to hear from St. Louis Wild Ones. If you have an idea for a Native Plant School class, please email: egoss@mobot.org.
Twice a year, Shaw Nature Reserve hosts a Wildflower Market which draw over 3500 shoppers who browse from native plant vendors and organizations like Missouri Wildflowers Nursery, Forrest Keeling, Shaw Nature Reserve, Forest ReLeaf, and yes, even Wild Ones! Come visit the St. Louis Wild Ones plant tent during the spring Wildflower Market – ask questions and support native plants. Then take a walk through the Wildflower Garden or go hiking!
Regardless of your gardening experience, Shaw Nature Reserve can be another source of inspiration – studying nature up close. With over 19 miles of trails through wetlands, woodlands, glades and prairies, visitors experience plants and wildlife in their natural habitats. These same habitats are monitored for invasive species and conservation science studies are conducted on bats, insects, amphibians, birds, foxes, bobcats, and more. We are located approximately 30 miles southwest of St. Louis. More information can be found at shawnature.org.
