Missouri Gardens

 Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art: 2818 Frederick Avenue, St. Joseph, MO 64506-2998 (816)233-7003.

The Museum features American Landscapes, American Impressionist paintings and post-Impressionist works indoors and rock garden and fountain areas outdoors.

 Bolduc House: 123 S. Main Street, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670 (573)883-3105.

Located in Ste. Genevieve (the first permanent settlement on the Mississippi River), the 1770 Bolduc House is regarded as the first, most authentically restored Creole house in the nation.

 Capaha Rose Garden: Capaha Park, Corner of Perry Avenue & Parkview St., Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 (573)335-4124.

Cape Girardeau is "The Rose City", which explains how there happen to be five garden clubs maintaining the Capaha Rose Garden, a Rose Display Testing Garden. Each club maintains about eight of the 42 beds devoted to different varieties.

 Chance Gardens, Centralia Historical Society: 319 E. Sneed Street, Centralia, MO 65240-1341 (314)682-5711.

Adjacent to a local history museum, this lovely garden displays a variety of plants within winding stone-walled beds and a waterfall.

 Country Club Plaza: 450 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO 64112-2101 (816)753-0100.

A busy downtown district featuring Spanish architecture ornamented with flowers, statues and fountains.

 Edna Cuddy Memorial House and Gardens: 1218 W. Main, Bethany, MO 64424 (816)425-3375 or (660)425-4613.

This 1882 Victorian house of Italianate design and rare pink brick is operated by Harrison County Historical Society.

College of the Ozarks Arboretum and Greenhouses: College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, MO 65726 (800)222-0525 (main number).

The Greenhouses (east of Edwards Mill) house the Clint McDade Orchid Collection, currently more than 7,000 plants.

 Helen Cuddy Memorial Rose Garden and Memorial Arboretum: Johnson County Parks and Recreation. Antioch Park, 6501 Antioch Road, Merriam, MO (913)831-3355.

This gracious rose garden displays 625 rose bushes plus a fountain, an iris garden, a mixed bed of colorful flowers and a perennial bed.  Nearby are two Xeriscape Gardens and the Arboretum.

 Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center: 10 Research Center Road, New Franklin, MO 65274 (660)848-2268.

The 540 acre research center can be viewed by self-guided driving tour or interpretative trails. Display gardens feature both perennial and annual flowering plants especially suited to Missouri's growing conditions. A small-scale reconstruction of Missouri's first botanical garden is also planned.  The U.S. National Arboretum Midwest Plant Research and Education Site makes its home here.

 Jewel Box: Forest Park, 5600 Clayton, St. Louis, M0 63110 (314)531-0080.

This striking 1936 Art Deco-style Conservatory, located in the city's largest park, offers six seasonal floral displays each year in the 144 foot long, 55 foot wide and 50 foot tall Main Display Room as well as tropical trees, foliage plants, waterfalls and fountains. A $4 million renovation is expected to be completed by early 2000.

 Krug Park: St. Joseph Ave. and Krug Park Place, St. Joseph, MO (816)271-5500.

A large city park with Italian Renaissance structures, extensive landscaping and flowerbeds.

 Laumeier Sculpture Park: 12580 Rott Road, Saint Louis, MO 63127 (314)821-1209.

This 96 acre park displays 75 sculptures in a naturalistic setting.

 Laura Conyers Smith Memorial Rose Garden: Loose Memorial Park, 5200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Kansas City , MO 64112 (816)784-5300.

This 74 acre public park features extensive landscaping, the Laura Conyers Smith Municipal Rose Garden, a wading pool and a small lake.  Maintained with help from the Kansas City Rose Society, the Rose Garden exhibits 4,000 roses of nearly 150 varieties in 1.5 acres.

 Linda Hall Library Arboretum: 5109 Cherry Street, Kansas City, MO 64110-2498 (816)926-8747.

This lovely 14 acre arboretum with 450 trees representing 160 varieties features a special collection of tree peonies, antique shrub roses, and a collection of prairie plants with over 50 species of indigenous perennials.

 Missouri Botanical Garden: 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63110 (314)577-9400.

One of the first public gardens in the U.S., this extraordinary 79 acre botanical garden has a host of fabulous gardens: the lily onds, the court gardens, the Goodman Iris Garden, the Gladney Rose Garden, the Heckman Rock Garden, the Azalea Bowl, the Chinese Garden, the English Woodland Garden, the Japanese Garden (14 acres with lake), the Climatron, the Temperate House (plants from Mediterranean climates, the southwestern U.S., Japan and China, a carnivorous plant bog, the Moorish Garden, the Biblical Garden, and the California wildflower slope), the Linnean House (camellias), the Victorian Area, an herb garden, a maze, and the Home Demonstration Gardens (8.5 acres are 23 demonstration gardens).

 Powell Gardens: 1609 NW U.S. Hwy. 50, Kingsville, MO 64061 (816)697-2600.

Founded in 1988, this new but outstanding botanical garden surrounding a 12 acre lake features a Display Conservatory, a Wildflower Meadow (native prairie grasses and wildflowers), the Perennial Garden (3 acres with 1200 cultivars), the Rock and Waterfall Garden (a shade garden with 700 azaleas), the Visitor Center Beds, the Dogwood Walk (flowering dogwoods), the Island Garden (2 acres of water gardens), the Greenhouse Complex (plant propagation and over-wintering), and Iris Hill.

 Shaw Nature Reserve: Highway 100 and Interstate 44, Gray Summit, MO 63039 (314)451-3512.

Run by the Missouri Botanical Gardens, this 2,500 acre arboretum features The Pinetum (55 acres with native and exotic conifers set in a 19th century English landscape design around a 3 acre lake), the Whitmire Wildflower Garden (a 5 acre area containing Missouri native and other wildflower species grouped by natural habitats), Wetlands (two ponds and a sedge meadow area accessible by boardwalk), and 14 miles of trails through oak-hickory forest, bottomland forest, glades and tall grass prairie.

 Shelter Insurance Gardens: 1817 W. Broadway, Columbia, MO 65218 (573)445-8441.

A spectacular 5 acre public garden at the grounds of the home office features over 350 varieties of native and exotic plants, a Rose Garden, a fern grotto and a Garden for the Blind (plants selected for their texture or scent), Japanese Maple Garden, Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden, Desert Garden, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Deciduous Shrub Garden, a Lily Pool, a Conifer Garden, a Rock Garden, a Waterfall, Pool and Stream, and a Shade Garden.

 Tower Grove Park: 4256 Magnolia Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110 (314)771-2679.

Tower Grove Park, a National Historic Landmark, is a 289 acre 19th century Victorian walking park featuring fanciful pavilions, a palm house, lily ponds and sculpture interspersed among lawns, flowers and trees.

 Unity Village: 1901 NW Blue Parkway, Unity Village, MO (816)524-3550.

Unity Village, home to the Unity School of Christianity (a Christian religious movement), is situated on Mediterranean-style grounds with 1,400 acres of gardens, prairie, woodlands, and recreational facilities, including a rose garden (800 rose bushes of 40 varieties), two meditation gardens, ponds and walking paths.

Wayside Park: East Highway 60, Mountain View, MO 65548 (417)934-2794.

This site features an 1800's log cabin, a Frisco railroad caboose, wood sculptures depicting pioneers, and 3 botanical gardens of native flowers and plants.