Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Guide
The Missouri Botanical Garden, located in St. Louis, Missouri, is home to 79 acres of diverse horticultural displays and gardens. Among its highlights is the 14-acre Japanese strolling garden and one of the world's largest collections of rare orchids. Established in 1859, the garden still provides visitors a glimpse of the original 1850 home of founder Henry Shaw. Besides its on-site offerings, the Missouri Botanical Garden has an extensive online presence, including a plant guide listing over 5,400 species that have grown in the Botanical garden's Kemper Center for Home Gardening. Does this Spark an idea?
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Features
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The Missouri Botanical Garden's Kemper Center for Home Gardening offers an enormous deal of information on various plant species for the home gardener based in any location. The plant guide, known as the "Plant Finder," lets gardeners access species-specific files with detailed information and photographs. In addition to the main Plant Finder database, you can refer to lists of plants best suited to particular conditions. For example, you can research those plants adapted to certain soil types, amounts of sun exposure or exposure to animals such as deer or rabbits. For a seasonal approach to plant information, you can view images of those plants currently in bloom at the Missouri Botanical Garden, at any time of year. For further information on plants in the MBG, view the listings of plant species within individual garden areas.
Searching
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One benefit of the MBG Kemper Center's online plant guide is its extensive flexibility for searching. You can use the site's search function to find plants meeting any combination of up to 40 growth characteristics. For example, you can search for a plant based on taxonomy, entering its family, genus, species or even cultivar. If you're looking for a plant that will adapt well to a particular growing location, search for all the plants that do well with a certain light level, in a certain hardiness zone or with particular watering and maintenance needs. For landscaping, you can even search for plants with flowers of a certain color.
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Plant Data
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Within any individual entry of the MBG Kemper Center's plant guide, you'll find extensive information on the species' or the cultivar's preferred growing conditions, uses, appearance, interactions with wildlife, potential problems and any other noteworthy characteristics. For example, the magnolia Ann grows in zones 4 through 8, blooms from April to May and measures 8 to 10 feet high and wide. You can use it as a hedge or flowering tree and you should provide plenty of air circulation to avoid powdery mildew problems.
Related Services
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To supplement the information in the online plant guide, the Kemper Center offers several related services. An interactive capability allows readers to leave their own ratings and comments about species listed in the guide. Should the information within the guide not answer a specific question, you can contact the center by telephone for professional advice on your horticultural issue. Locals can drop by the center for in-person advice.
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- Photo Credit magnolia image by Anna Polishchuk from Fotolia.com
