Early Spring at the Missouri Botanical Garden

A First-Time Visitor

I finally had the chance to visit the Missouri Botanical Garden, founded by Henry Shaw in 1859. It is one of the top botanical gardens in the world with an invaluable collection of plants. I had hoped to catch the Cherry Trees in bloom and was not disappointed. We had a lovely stroll through the grounds, including the conservatory and the Japanese Gardens.

Many Gardens in One

As a first-time visitor, I was surprised by the diversity of the gardens, including an English woodland garden, a variety of German Gardens, and a large children’s garden. The garden had a renaissance in the 1970s-2000s under the leadership of Dr. Peter Raven. The Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, the Victorian Garden, the Boxwood Garden, and many more opened during his tenure. You can read more about the history in the online text An Illustrated History of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The Japanese Garden

The enormous koi fish in the Japanese Garden lake were so well-fed that they ignored the food pellets people could buy to throw to them. We also saw some contented Mallard ducks. The 4-acre lake includes four islands and a small waterfall. The garden path winds around the lake with views of a dry garden with raked gravel, lanterns, and wooden bridges. Walking through the naturalistic Japanese garden gave me a profound feeling of calmness.

The Conservatory

The Climatron© Conservatory is an incredible architectural feat, a geodesic dome without columns or other interior supports. Built in 1960, it was the first geodesic dome to be used as a greenhouse. The gorgeous tropical plants, including orchids, banana plants, and palm trees, cover half an acre. You can learn more about the conservatory on the Garden’s website. Dale Chihuly’s “Sunset Herons,” a set of graceful orange glass sculptures, rise up in one of the ponds and Chihuly’s “Missouri Botanical Garden Blue Chandelier,” a large ombre blue sculpture with many delicate spirals, hangs down from the ceiling.

A Serene Experience

The grounds are spacious, so we never felt like we had to battle crowds. The flowering crabapples, dogwoods, and redbuds were spectacular. We also enjoyed the daffodils and tulips. For one of the most famous and popular spots in St. Louis, it was overwhelmingly peaceful and relaxing. I hope to return during summer to see the fountains, roses, and water lilies. It will be worth braving the heat and humidity to see the summer flowers. I’d also like to check out the gift shop and café in the Visitor Center.

How to Visit

The parking lot was full but we had no issues parking on the street a block away. Parking is free but the lot is not large. The garden is located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110, right off I-44. The garden is open every day, year-round, except for Christmas Day. General admission is $16 for non-residents and $6 for city and county residents. You can buy tickets in person or online before you go at the Missouri Botanical Garden website.

Bellflowers and Fairytale Gardens

Why are bellflowers so captivating? Perhaps their delicate beauty and ability to be found in the most unexpected places has led to their starring role in folklore. Let’s not forget their striking blue color, such an uncommon hue in the garden. Or the fact that many varieties are edible and pretty easy to grow. What’s not to like? Bellflowers are the common name for campanula (little bell in Latin). Their lovely bell-shaped flowers are most commonly blue, but can also be found in purple, pink, and white. Many of the common names of bellflower varieties point to their importance in folklore: Fairy Thimbles and Harebells. 

Bluebells in Ireland, Scotland, & England

The harebell is one bellflower (Campanula rotundifolia) with ties to fairy lore in Scotland, Ireland, and England. It’s known as the bluebell of Scotland. This wildflower is found in woods and meadows and has an airy appearance with blue flowers on delicate stems. They are symbolic of constant love in Scotland but grief in other parts of Britain (perhaps because they were planted near graves). They are also known as fairy thimbles. Legend has it that the bells would chime to bring fairies out to play. Beware the wrath of the fairies to anyone who disturbed these flowers! 

The Sound of the Bellflower

The bellflower’s music comes up in many poems. Cicely Mary Baker describes them in her 1923 book, The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies: “They tinkle while the fairies play/With song and dance the whole night long/Till daybreak wakens, cold and gray, And elfin music fades away.” The delicate swaying of the bellflowers in the wind is also a common theme, among famous and unknown poets alike. Here’s a stanza from an 1835 poem, “The Blue Hare-Bell”: “The source of that whispering strain I’ll tell;/For I’ve listened oft/To the music faint of the Blue Hare-bell,/In the gloaming soft;/’Tis the gay fairy folk of the peal who ring,/At even-time for their banqueting.” It was written by Louisa Anne Twamley, “A young lady, who, at the age of twenty, is a Poet, a Painter, and her own Engraver.” (p. 189, Flora and Tahlia). 

Bellflower Superstitions

The name of harebell comes from old superstitions about witches turning into hares and hiding among the meadow flowers. They are also known as witch’s thimbles, witch bells, the cuckoo’s shoe, old man’s bell (the old man was the devil!), and dead men’s bells. It is quite strange that such a pretty flower had such sinister names. Some folklore has the witches using the juice of the flower in a spell that turned them into hares. It was very bad luck indeed to have a hare cross your path. In an alternative belief, the flower’s juice made witches fly. Even with these sinister connotations, tradition has it that dreaming of harebells meant true love. At least one variation simply links the name to the hares ringing the flowers to let other hares know of their whereabouts. 

Bellflowers in Folktales

Another variety of bellflower is at the heart of the Rapunzel story. Rampion (Campanula rapunculus) is a biennial found in Eurasia and North Africa with edible roots and leaves. According to Mrs. M. Grieve, writing in A Modern Herbal (1931), rampion was a popular garden vegetable in Germany, Italy, and France, and sometimes in England. Both the roots and leaves were eaten. It is a very old garden staple, dating at least from the time of Shakespeare. Shakespeare uses the plant in some of Falstaff’s slang. The rampion is the garden plant that Rapunzel’s parents keep stealing from the witch. The Brother’s Grimm took the name of Rapunzel from the Latin name for rampion, rapunculus, which means little turnip. Italian folklore claims that rampion can make children peevish. An Italian folktale from Calabria also features a rampion. After pulling it out, a girl discovers a staircase in its hole that leads to an underground adventure with the fairies. 

Have you thought of adding bellflowers to the story you are telling with your garden? They do not like very wet conditions, but they thrive in well-drained soil of any pH in both temperate and subtropical areas. Some popular varieties are the Peach Leaved Bellflower (Campanula persicifolia) and Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium).

Lilacs in June

We enjoy the bloom and scent of lilac in our yard, but the flowers usually appear in early to mid-June. How does one garden at an arid 7220 feet? Long ago, I gave up picture-perfect, manicured plants in this harsh environment of red rocky dirt, drying winds, and minuscule amounts of precipitation. I let go of the struggle and discovered the joy of working with the elements present in my environment.

I value the rugged flowers, shrubs, and trees that do well with minimal effort on my part. If a new plant introduces itself, I allow it to make a home in the garden. Above all, my Wyoming garden hones the skill of acute observation. Where does the grass grow? In the shade of the trees, because the sun is too harsh in unprotected spaces. Instead of focusing on grass, I focus on the trees and baby them with precious watering regimens. The grass will be less of a struggle and water-hog after the trees take root.

Look out to the prairie — does it seem barren? Look down, and one gains a different perspective. A lovely myriad of miniature wildflowers vies for your attention. The detail of petals and leaves in purple, blue, yellow, and green will make you catch your breath in delight. Look up. Dazzling azure skies and limitless horizons await you. Just remember to wear a hat and sunscreen. 

High Altitude Gardening Resources

Here are some helpful resources if you find yourself in a similar situation: 

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