Add a touch of nostalgia to your garden with these beautiful blooms that have stood the test of time. Our local landscapers share their old-fashioned favorites.  

There’s a small taste of the historic Ottoman Empire right here in St. Louis at the Missouri Botanical Garden.  The Ottoman Garden is a unique quarter-acre walled garden that carries on the little known but great gardening tradition of the Ottomans. 

The Ottoman Garden provides a visually lush and peaceful setting. Visitors can enjoy the refreshing sound of water, earthy patina of the surrounding walls, antique brick and stone and the myriad of plants whose primary functions are for fragrance, fruit and color.

Estimates vary as to how many microbreweries dot the Greater St. Louis region. Some go as high as 50, with more springing up all the time. That doesn’t count the number of home brewers, who painstakingly create masterful beer in their basements using endless variations of the standard grain, yeast, water and hops.

If you want to know anything about growing herbs in the Midwest, talk with Mary Hammer. She’s a member of the St. Louis Herb Society and chairman of the group’s upcoming Herb Sale at the Missouri Botanical Garden April 27-29. The effervescent Mary can fill a book just off the top of her head when she taps into her knowledge of how to grow, use and harvest these stars of the garden, kitchen and even the medicine cabinet.

With the holiday season in full swing, don’t show up to a festive gathering empty handed. A sweet surprise for the hostess is always appreciated. Sure, wine and chocolates are tasty, but why not bring your family member or friend a beautiful plant as a gift. SLHL asked local landscapers to share their favorite plants to give as hostess gifts. 

The Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, a division of the Missouri Botanical Garden located in St. Louis County, opened to the public in 1998. It features an 8,000-square-foot glass conservatory where visitors mingle with more than 60 species of the world’s most beautiful butterflies in free flight. The conservatory is lushly planted with nearly 100 species of exotic flowering tropical plants and is sheathed in 646 pieces of glass, each measuring 4 by 6 feet and weighing approximately 200 pounds.