The settings couldn’t be more different. One sandwiched in the city, bordered by brick buildings and alleys; the other spread over multiple acres and accessed down a long gravel driveway. 

At heart, however, they are one and the same. Both sites overflow with flowers. Glorious, colorful exquisite flowers. Flowers to gladden the heart. Flowers to soothe the soul.

The 23 acres that border Wild Horse Creek Road defy an easy description. There is a massive, white house with wide, welcoming front steps that graces the land with a lovely, hospitable, Southern ambiance. Surrounding the house are lush plantings of flowering shrubs and native plants that soften the hardscape, particularly in back of the home. That’s where an outdoor kitchen, hot tub, fireplace and waterfall surround a shimmering swimming pool.

Local landscapers share their favorite fall-blooming perennials.

1. Variegated Liriope is one of my favorite fall-blooming perennials for its showy purple flower spires that emerge in late summer/early fall and jazz up an otherwise neutral perennial. Katy Scott, Green Guys.

1. Eternal Fragrance Daphne. Not only does this plant offer fragrant interest, but because of the combination of medium dark-green leaves and bright-white flowers, it brings great color contrast and a unique texture to any landscape. Andria Graeler, Chesterfield Valley Nursery.

Head to the Shields Hosta Walk and Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden where visitors are greeted by a stone dedicating the Hosta Walk and Garden as a National Display Garden of the American Hosta Society. The Hosta Garden is located near the Zimmerman Sensory Garden, which hosts 10 wild species and more than 100 cultivars.