In the early 1800s, a young Henry Shaw used to ride west on horseback from his fledgling hardware store on the St. Louis riverfront to the prairie that surrounded the burgeoning city. Awed by the beauty that surrounded him, he wrote home to England describing the splendor of the tall prairie flowers and grasses that engulfed him as he rode. He was, in fact, so enamored and inspired that, as his fortunes increased, he began buying the land he traversed, later transforming the property into the Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park

Local landscapers share their favorite naturalizing bulbs. You can count on these bulbs to come up year after year. 

The sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, is a rhizomatous aquatic perennial native to the rivers and ponds of Asia and northern Australia. The plant’s life cycle is steeped in symbolism, as stalks and leaves ascend from muddy soil and still waters to form a large, beautiful blossom that opens as wide as 12 inches across. The Garden’s collection of Nelumbo nucifera includes “Empress,” “Alba Plena” and “Improved Egyptian Pink” in the Japanese Garden. The plants are planted in a large enclosed bed along the banks in the southeast corner of the lake.

In St. Louis, September signals the start of autumn – both in perception and reality. In the coming weeks, trees and bushes will move from luscious green to vibrant red, yellow, rust and gold.  There’s a pronounced crispness in the breeze.  Sweaters and light jackets might make a first appearance.  That is the way September goes in the northern hemisphere.

Crystal blue skies, rolling fields of cherry trees, the sound of waves lapping on a sandy shore….and goats on a roof. Yes, goats on a roof. Throw in a beachside polka band, hand-crafted beer, wine, cheese and a smattering of red barns and what do we have? Door County, Wisconsin. 

“That’s Macy’s little room,” says homeowner Mary Jennings, referring to the 10-by-10-foot nook off her master bedroom — an area so tiny it might have been tricky for some designers to outfit. Knapp, though, created a cheerful design centered around Jennings’ 9-pound Bichon Frise, who naps daily on the custom 4-by-6 hand-knotted Jaipur rug. Jennings uses the room, too, mostly for reading on the contemporary – and comfy – chair-and-a-half by Sherrill Furniture.