Missouri Botanical Garden

Several weeks ago John and I had the privilege of attending the grand opening of the Taylor Visitor Center of our St.Louis gardens.   It was a good transformation, way beyond what I imagined it would look like.  Even the outside of the building has a different appearance, as you can see in the picture abov

The high midsection of the building, which you may notice in the first picture above, is the glass atrium. That part of the center immediately caught my attention as I entered the center.  The soaring atrium was designed to let in "dappled natural light", causing one to feel like they were in clearing in the woods- according to the garden's brochure. It did not give me that feeling, but still is very pretty. Continuing with the theme of trees, the terrazzo floors were designed to look like a forest floor sprinkled with leaves from the many different kinds of trees in the garden.

One other new feature in the center, besides new changes in the cafeteria on the first floor, is the area above the information desk. The lighting was designed to appear like the "light and shape of fireflies".  

I was disappointed that, once we stepped outside, we were not greeted by beautiful landscaped gardens! No, on second thought, I realized that construction of the center began in 2019 and ended in this month of 2022. The final phase of renovation is not expected until spring of 2023, when the surrounding landscapes of  the newly constructed areas will be completed. Something else, which I should mention here, is that the gardens now have a 50,000 gallon collection system that will support 92% of irrigation for all of the greenhouses.

Pictured above is another view of the new center, in the background. Despite the disappointment of seeing flower beds with only dirt in them behind the building, there was still the beauty of the water lilies in the pond next to the Linnean House. You can see the corner of that brick building in the picture above. I believe that building use to offer a variety of azaleas, rhododendrons, and camellias. I loved to see them blooming during the winter months! But that will be changing, as the building will be returning to what the conservancy was originally designed for back in 1882- to be an orangery with displays of citrus and Mediterranean plants.

 We ventured further into the gardens and once again saw all of its floral beauty. As usual, we enjoyed our day there, but it was a hot one. I will end this posting with a picture of a familiar scene in the garden- a lily pond decorated with yellow and orange Chiluly glass balls and a variety of sculptures.. The climatron greenhouse can be seen in the background.

 

 

Missouri State Fair at Sedalia, Missouri

 No big road trips for John and I this past summer, although it would have been smart for us to have found some cool spot north of Missouri!  Well, we did a few weekend trips- just nothing to write about.  Our daughter and son-in-law enjoy those short trips with their camping trailer, and sometimes we tag along.  When they told us of their plans to attend the state fair, we decided to join them.  It had been at least a good ten years since we had been there. And, as we discovered, the Missouri Fair is as great as ever, with lots of different demonstrations; rodeos, bull riding, tractor/truck pulls, music shows- and that is to name but a few of the fair's attractions over the two weeks it was running.  I am a bit of a history buff so something that was a bit different from the usual fair trappings did capture my interest soon after we entered the fair grounds: the French Merci Train.

In 1947 the United states collected food and other items from all of its states and sent them to Italy and France to sustain their people after World War 11. France returned the kindness with a collection of box cars filled with gifts for every state in our union- the cars were called the "Merci Train".  The fair had on display the Missouri box car, pictured above.  The car was built in 1873 and was used during the wars to transport men and horses- to be exact, 8 horses and 40 men. Next to the box car is a "Gratitude Garden".

The fair had many shows which a whole family could enjoy, and one such show was enjoyed by all of us, including the grandchildren. It was a juggling act performed by a gentleman from London,England.

Our son-in-law Spencer, along with 8 other men, agreed to help the juggler toss knives in the air while balancing on a rope held tautly by the two teams of men. The performer was successful and fortunately no one got stabbed by a flying knife! After the show our group broke up, each of us having different interests in the various buildings of the fair. Our daughter saw in the Missouri Agriculture hall the similar sculptured butter cow which we had seen when we last visited the fair. Some of us had an interest in entering the chicken building where a rooster calling contest was to be held.

As we wended our way through that building we walked down rows of caged chickens. The one above caught my eye as she had received a first prize ribbon.  Quite an unusual chicken; the sign on her cage said that she was of the Sebright variety- a breed of chicken known for its ornamental feathers, tiny white eggs and provided very little meat. Why have a chicken like that?  Well, it is a friendly chicken, my guess is that she is a great pet! I got a bit bored with the rooster calling contest- an elderly gentleman walked between two rows of caged roosters a couple of times and rated their crowing. A rooster may crow magnificently one moment, then when the judge walked by the rooster became silent and received a low score.  One contestant's owner covered the cage of her rooster and uncovered him as the judge walked by- that one attempt did not get any cooperation from the rooster. Like I said, I got bored with that contest very soon!

I always enjoy looking at the 4-H club products created by children. My mother grew up on a farm and belonged to that club ( she often informed me that the 4- H stood for head, heart, hands and health). Mom won first prize in a Michigan State Fair for food which she successfully canned in glass jars. I was very impressed to see what the 4-H club members of Missouri had to show with their sewing and cooking skills!  Unfortunately we did not see much of the fair the day we were there. The temperature was 90 degrees and only climber higher while we were at the fair. Little amount of shade and few benches to sit on made it difficult for John and I to walk around the fair. We had to pass on watching the grandchildren doing the carnival rides. And the distance from one attraction to another seemed to get longer and longer!  The fair trolley cars were no help for us- every car was full! We decided that the best course of action was to find a cool spot to sit and wait until the rest of our group were finished with their day at the fair.