Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in St. Louis, Missouri, and is also known informally as "Shaw's Garden" (named for founder Henry Shaw, a botanist and philanthropist).

Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is one of the oldest botanical institutions in the United States and a National Historic Landmark. The Garden is a center for botanical research and science education of international repute, as well as an oasis in the city of St. Louis, with 79 acres (31 hectares) of horticultural display. It includes a 14 acre (5 hectares) Japanese strolling garden named Seiwa-en, the Climatron geodesic dome conservatory, a children's garden including a pioneer village, a playground, a fountain area, and a water locking system, somewhat similar to the locking system at the Panama Canal, and Osage camp, and Henry Shaw’s original 1850 estate home. It is adjacent to Tower Grove Park, another of Shaw’s legacies.

The gardens have undergone many evolutions in the past 25 years under Dr. Peter Raven, the Garden's director and chief executive. The 2003 annual report lists more than 100 individuals under research, a third of them with PhDs.

Every year the Garden is a place for many cultural festivals including the Japanese Festival and the Chinese Culture Days by the St. Louis Chinese Culture Days Committee. During this time, there are showcases of the culture's botanics as well as cultural arts, crafts, music and food. The Japanese Festival recently began to include sumo wrestling, adding this sport to the taiko drumming and kimono fashion shows already presented. The Garden is known for its Bonsai growing, which can be seen all year round, but is highlighted during the multiple Asian festivals. Major garden features include:

* Tower Grove House (1849) and Herb Garden - Shaw's Victorian country house in the Italianate style, with tower over the central entry way.

* Victory of Science Over Ignorance - Marble statue by Carlo Nicoli; a copy of the original (1859) by Vincenzo Consani in the Pitti Palace, Florence.

* Linnean House (1882) - Said to be the oldest continually operated greenhouse west of the Mississippi River. Originally Shaw's orangery; converted largely to camellias in the late 1930s.

* Gladney Rose Garden (1915) - Circular rose garden with arbors.

* Climatron (1960) and Reflecting Pools - the world's first geodesic dome greenhouse; lowland rain forest with approximately 1500 plants.

* English Woodland Garden (1976) - aconite, azaleas, bluebells, dogwoods, hosta, trillium, etc., beneath tree canopy.

* Seiwa-en Japanese Garden (1977) - chisen kaiyu-shiki (wet strolling garden) with lawns and path set around a central lake (4.5 acres). Designed by Koichi Kawana.

* Grigg Nanjing Friendship Chinese Garden (1995) - Designed by architect Yong Pan; major features were gifts from sister city Nanjing, and include a moon gate, lotus gate, pavilion, and Chinese scholar's rocks from Tai Hu.

* Blanke Boxwood Garden (1996) - walled parterre with a fine boxwood collection.

* Strassenfest German Garden (2000) - flora native to Germany and Central Europe; bust of botanist and Henry Shaw's scientific advisor George Engelmann (sculpted by Paul Granlund)

Film Director Douglas Trumbull stated on the commentary accompanying the DVD release of the 1972 science fiction classic movie Silent Running, that the geodesic domes containing the last forests of Earth's future on the spaceship Valley Forge were based on the Missouri Botantical Gardens Climatron dome.

From 1991 to 1993 the chairman of the Garden Trustees was William H.T. Bush (younger brother of former President George H.W. Bush).[3]

For part of 2006, the Missouri Botanical Garden featured "Glass in the Garden", with glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly placed throughout the garden. Four pieces were purchased and remain at the gardens. In 2008 sculptures of the French artist Niki de Saint Phalle were placed throughout the garden.