Missouri Botanical Garden offers free entry for grand opening weekend. Here’s what to see
Visitors to the Missouri Botanical Garden will soon be able to explore more than 30,000 new specimens while enjoying a more streamlined and accessible experience.
The Missouri Botanical Garden will host a grand opening for the new Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center Saturday and Sunday, and admission to the event is free. An orientation video, new classrooms, dining facilities and a gift shop are just a few of the features the garden will offer soon.
The orientation video will launch later after the auditorium is used for the fan-favorite Japanese Festival, and additions such as the Bayer Event Center and Emerson Conservatory are still in the works, but there’s plenty to see at the opening and later in the season.
Here’s what to know about the grand opening event and new garden features, from project executive for the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center and former Missouri Botanical Garden chief operating officer Bob Woodruff.
Grand opening event
The Grand opening weekend will kick off 10 a.m. Saturday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Admission is free all weekend, and no advance reservations are required.
Throughout the weekend visitors can attend live music performances, storytelling gatherings and more. Here’s the schedule of events, from the Missouri Botanical Garden:
Saturday:
10 a.m. Ribbon cutting ceremony
10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Red and Black Brass Band
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Metro Theater Company, excerpts from In My Granny’s Garden
Noon and 1 p.m. Storyteller Bobby Norfolk
1 to 3 p.m. STL Rhythm Collaborative’s moSTLy Tap
1 and 2 p.m. The Bach Society of St. Louis
Sunday:
10 to 11 a.m. Louie
Noon to 1:30 p.m. Metro Theater Company, excerpts from In My Granny’s Garden
Noon and 1 p.m. Bob Kramer’s Marionnettes
1 and 2 p.m. Thomas and Tricia Jöstlein
2 and 3 p.m. Storyteller Bobby Norfolk
2 to 4 p.m. STL Rhythm Collaborative’s moSTLy Tap
Other event highlights include hourly walking tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., a Children’s Garden event where attendees can pot a free plant and therapeutic horticulture sessions.
More information about the weekend’s events can be found online.
Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center
The Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center has been in the works since 2017, and the garden broke ground on the facility in early 2020, just before the start of the pandemic.
Sustainability, a core part of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s mission, was at the forefront of designer’s minds as they sourced building materials.
“Much of the material was sourced in Missouri. All the stone that you see came from a quarry in Ste. Genevieve,” Woodruff said. “And locally sourcing materials, especially heavy materials like stone and the other elements, really cuts down on transportation and emission, it really is a net contributor.”
Upon entering the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center, guests can enjoy views of the garden through the all-glass south side of the building. There is a video wall showcasing the garden’s conservation work, a ticketing booth, Garden Gate Shop and Sassafras dining facilities.
Guests can make their way through the William T. Kemper Lobby to the visitor information desk, where a staff member can help you plan your visit. Personalized experiences are recommended based on a visitor’s planned length of stay, interests and needs.
While some staff facilities are located in the basement, all visitor activities are on one floor in the new visitor center. Guests using wheelchairs or strollers may find this more manageable to navigate, and accessible restrooms are also available in the building near the entrance.
For accessibility assistance upon arrival or during your time at the garden, you can call at 314-327-6390.
After planning your visit at the information desk, you’ll soon be able to view a nine-minute orientation video in the Lelia J. and David N. Farr Auditorium. A tram station is located just down the hall from the auditorium, where you can embark on a guided tour held hourly.
Another feature of the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center is a second calming corner room, which garden staff decided to create after seeing the need met by the one located in the vestibule of Brookings Exploration Center.
“It’s been wildly popular with visitors,” Woodruff said.
The room is designed for anyone who needs a bit of privacy or quiet, such as parents of nursing children or people who may feel overstimulated at the gardens. It has a chair, greenery-themed art, a counter and sink.
The calming corner room is open to anyone and does not require a reservation. The room in the visitor’s center locks, while the one in Brookings Exploration Center does not. Missouri Botanical Garden public information officer Catherine Martin said it is clear when the room in Brookings is occupied, so privacy hasn’t been an issue.
Bayer Event Center and other additions
Missouri Botanical Garden staff plan to open the Bayer Event Center in the spring, as it’s currently being used as a temporary visitor’s center. The facility is designed to host everything from weddings to educational conferences and other gatherings.
Another new addition to the garden is the Emerson Conservatory, which will allow guests to enjoy greenery even as temperatures get cooler later in the season. The conservatory will showcase Mediterranean plants, and annual flower shows will be hosted there.
The conservatory is not yet complete, but construction workers were onsite Wednesday preparing the space to host flowers in the future. Planting will begin this fall, Woodruff said.
Missouri Botanical Garden staffers will plant 3.5 acres in total for the renovation, including 30,500 individual plants representing 332 individual species.
Almost half of the species are native to the U.S., including 80 native to Missouri. A third of the new species are under conservation concern, with nine critically endangered plants coming to the garden.
This story was originally published August 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
