General description of the Missouri Botanical Garden

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

Summary: The article "General description of the Missouri Botanical Garden" provides an overview of the famous gardens of St. Louis, Missouri. The article examines the history of the foundation and development of the garden, its geographical location, climatic features and diversity of plants.

Keywords: Missouri Botanical Garden, botanical garden, plant conservation, biodiversity

The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million specimens, is the second largest in North America, behind that of the New York Botanical Garden.[3]

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The climate is humid subtropical, but all around Greater St. Louis humid continental climate through the USA isoterm, with a winter that sustains in the coldest month temperatures below 0 °C more easily, clear evidence of an urban heat island, which in the future may cover an even larger area and agglutinate cities and villages to the south. The coldest temperature of the year is typically around 0 °F (−18 °C). With neither large mountains nor large bodies of water to moderate its temperature, it is subject to both cold Arctic air and hot, humid tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico. Due to such climatic conditions, in the Missouri Botanical Garden you can see a variety of plants that are adapted to this type of climate.[8]

The Missouri Botanical Garden has been an oasis for St. Louis residents and visitors for over 150 years. General admission includes access to the garden and a daily walking tour led by an employee of the Ridgeway Visitor Center. Visitors can also admire the garden during the tram tour, as well as listen to stories about its territory. Various workshops are also held in the garden: from gardening in a small space to painting birds in the backyard.

The Missouri Botanical Garden is located in St. Louis and was founded by Henry Shaw. Born in Sheffield in 1800, he moved to Canada with his father when he was 18, and a year later moved to St. Louis. At that time, St. Louis was a small trading post in France.[4]

In 1851 he visited Swerth and especially appreciated the gardens and greenhouses of the place. This point led him to have the idea to arrange a large garden in the house. Dr. Angleman, one of the best botanists in the United States, lives in St. Louis, and Mr. Shaw asks him for help and advice. In assembling his garden, Shaw enlisted the help of some of the most highly respected names in the field of botany, including Asa Grey, William Hooker, and George Englemann. In 1857, he began to send and receive letters with Sir William Hooker. He hired James Garney at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Regents Park to oversee the execution of his plan. On his death in 1889, he inherited 760 acres of land from his trust manager, partly in St. Louis and partly outside St. Louis, and was used to maintain a botanical garden open to the public, along with a museum and library.[4-5]

To support the "botanizing" movement, Shaw decided, as he explained in his Guide to the Missouri Botanical Garden, that his garden would display a "systematic arrangement of classified plants."[5]

Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is one of the oldest botanical institutions in the United States and a national historic landmark. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

With a fresh approach that prioritizes the Garden's mission "to discover and share knowledge about plants and their envirolment in order to preserve and enrich life," the center and gardens are now the primary gateway for more than one million annual visitors.

Through careful consideration of grading and floor elevation, the new visitor center streamlines a previously complicated arrival sequence. The result is a powerful and elegant entry experience with significant plantings at the front of the building, inviting visitors with a taste of what is inside.

The new woodland and grassland gardens that surround the center emphasize plant diversity, visual cohesion, and clear orientation for the visitor. Together, these gardens host a living collection of over 46,000 plants representing over 300 species from around the world, including many that are endangered.

Missouri Botanical Garden is most notable for its Climatron, a geodesic-dome greenhouse in which 1,200 species of plants are grown under computer-controlled conditions simulating a rainforest. The 79-acre (32-hectare) garden also has the largest traditional Japanese garden in North America.[6]

In the Missouri Botanical Garden, there may have different types of soil, such as sandy, clay, sandy loam or super clay. This provides a variety of plant conditions, allowing the garden to grow and display a variety of species.

Popular plants in the Missouri Botanical Garden, such as azaleas, rhododendrons, magnolias, and irises, usually prefer acidic soils with good drainage. There are also a variety of habitats in the garden, and plants adapt to dry or humid soil conditions.

Gardeners and botanists at the Missouri Botanical Garden carefully monitor the condition of the soil to maintain the fertility of the soil and the best conditions for plants. This helps to create colorful, healthy and beautiful garden compositions and provides favorable conditions for research and educational programs.