post by Donna Short, Chapter member and volunteer
Wild Ones Garden Gathering Highlights
National Museum of Transportation
Saturday Oct 12
The last outdoor gathering of 2024 was at the National Museum of Transportation – St. Louis. In 2007, native landscaping enthusiasts in the St. Louis area began developing a wealth of native plantings throughout the museum property. Wild Ones has been a significant part of this on-going project.
Shown here are key members of the design, development and maintenance team for the gardens: Betty Struckoff, Tessa Wasserman and Diane Miller. They are also Wild Ones members.
We began at the Lakeside Rain Garden which was created to slow and filter rain water coming from the parking lot into the lake during big rain events.
SPIRE provided a grant and service time to install the walking path and arbor.
Tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) shown here blooming in the rain garden, which is often filled with damsel and dragonflies, butterflies and birds. In November, it can turn into a fairyland of frost in the morning or host a small flock of bluebirds.
Parking lot islands are planted with a combination of natives, trees and shrubs. Nearly all the plants are from seeds/seedlings from the prairie hillside. These areas are under hot, dry conditions where natives thrive.
Pollinator Junction provides a demonstration area of plants that support pollinators and includes educational materials for adults and kids. There are over 135 native species growing here.
Butterfly botanical markers indicate the plant or tree is host for butterfly/moth larva. The garden was planted in 2016 by many volunteers, including Wild Ones members, and designed by students of SLCC-Meramec. The garden was sponsored by grants including a grant for trees and shrubs from Forest ReLeaf’s CommuniTree Project.
The Pollinator Junction was named a Native Garden of Excellence, and one of the first designated as such by Grow Native! at the inception of the program in 2021. To learn more about this award, which Wild Ones St. Louis helped fund, visit the Grow Native! Gardens of Excellence project page.
Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) in abundance!
The Pollinator Junction is home to a variety of wildlife, including this frog who seems oblivious to the activity surrounding him!
Frost aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum)
American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) shrub with butterfly plant id tag, similar to those found throughout the Pollinator Garden.
The Zig Zag path, which climbs a hill, was originally developed by St. Louis County park staff in an area with water runoff issues. After adding native plants erosion slowed. Rattlesnake master and prickly pear cactus love it here!
The Garden Train area was designed and planted by Tessa Wasserman, Wild Ones member and Transportation Museum staff member. The train layout and construction were done by museum staff and volunteers and has two G gauge trains.
This low maintenance shade garden contains many plants from the garden of Wild Ones President, Marsha Gebhardt.
Frost aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum) blooming shown here.
Yarrow (Symphyotrichum pilosum) flourishes in the shade garden.
The prairie hillside area, designed by Cindy Gilberg in 2008, was the first area featuring Missouri native plants. Harvested seeds are used to grow new areas and have been shared at the yearly Wild Ones seed exchange.
This is truly a garden for all seasons! For photos of the garden in full bloom and more information see the article found in the Wild Ones St Louis blog.
Woo hoo! Congrats to Tessa and all the Wild Ones who have helped make the Museum of Transportation a tribute to native plants!