Shaw's Garden

To celebrate and amuse us during the holiday weeks the Garden creates a flower and train show, this year commemorating the Garden's 150th Anniversary. Someone created models of all the buildings, and Henry Shaw is everywhere.  Miniature staff are involved in lots of interesting activities.  Be sure to scroll down to find out what happened to a hapless Climatron gardener.

Butterfly House

West of town, the Missouri Botanical Garden's Butterfly House is a very cool place. Actually it is at constant shirt-sleeve temperature, and at any given time there are 1500 butterflies fluttering in the air, resting, or eating.  They arrive as chrysalises from butterfly farms all over the world and are released when they have completely metamorphosed into butterflies.  Just sorry it took us so long to go there.

Shaw's Garden

Shaw's Garden

Yesterday was a wet day at the Botanical Garden, moody and close. I like the emphasis on the near distance imposed by a rainy day.

Shaw's Garden

Shaw's Garden

Many seeds, lots of mulch, lots of weeding, some rain...

Shaw's Garden

A seed, a little mulch, some weeding, some rain...

Shaw's Garden

There is a central pool at the garden in which grow, by now in the season, huge platter water lilies among many bright floating glass onions. Spectacular!

Shaw's Garden: Japanese Festival

Japanese shibori is the ancient art of creating complicated dye patterns on fabric, achieved by careful folding, stitching, or twisting of cloth before multiple immersions in the indigo dye bath.

Indigo Moon People of Boonville MO make interesting and beautiful designs.  We bought a small t-shirt with dragon flies for our young niece.

Shaw's Garden: Japanese Festival

We were fortunate to secure tickets to the Tea Ceremony today.  This young girl offered warm hospitality and capable assistance throughout the ceremony.

Shaw's Garden: Japanese Festival

Anime, Pokemon, Hello Kitty... characters r us at Shaw's Garden.  Japanese culture isn't only kimonos, martial arts and tea.

Shaw's Garden: Japanese Festival

At the Missouri Botanical garden over Labor Day Weekend is a huge festival celebrating Japanese culture.

The flags and kites are up today, waving gently in the wind.

Shaw's Garden

genetic code + elements + warmth + light + time = almost too much beauty to comprehend

Shaw's Garden

Shaw's Garden

Thursday evenings in summer the garden is open with the promise of a lovely time of day and subdued and slanted light, relaxed people including lots of children, balloons and face painting, lots of strolling, wine and beer free for the tasting, the open restaurant and patio dining, and dragon flies dipping water, cruising and alighting on tall things.

Shaw's Garden

Shaw's Garden

digital funny business

Shaw's Garden

Dale Chihuly's floating glass onions in the central pool at the Missouri Botanical Garden  

catch  the light in wonderful ways. His work shines in outdoor settings. Check out the following sites, among others:

Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix 

http://www.dbg.org/index.php/chihuly/gallery

NY Botanical Garden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcyid-9VvM8

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami

http://www.chihuly.com/installations/fairchild/index.html

Missouri Botanical Garden

Rainy day in the Japanese garden.   

Maturing prairie garden.

 

Wind sculptures in the prairie garden by Lyman Whitaker.  

There are six Whitaker sculptures at MOBOT.

Missouri Botanical Garden