Celebrate the Holidays at Missouri Botanical Garden

The Gardenland Express is only one of a wide variety of events marking the holiday season. Traditional celebrations for Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa are also planned.

The Missouri Botanical Garden outlined its season-long schedule of holiday events in a news release recently. Included in the holiday events are flora, toy trains, holiday crafts and plenty of holiday decorations. The Missouri Botanical Garden is sharing the spirit of the holiday season with an abundance of festivities to create lasting memories for young and old alike. Enjoy the return of the colorful Gardenland Express holiday flower and train show, two weekends filled with holiday carols and visits with Santa, holiday décor, traditional Chanukah and Kwanzaa celebrations, and more. For detailed information on the complete lineup of holiday happenings, visit the Garden's website. Gardenland Express The annual Gardenland Express holiday …

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Political Rewind: Akin, McCaskill, Sinquefield, Raven

On the senate race, political spending by a powerful Missouri contributor and climate change—our roundup of some of the Missouri political stories that hit the media this week.

Editor's Note: The following articles were aggregated from several news organizations in Missouri. You can read more about each story by clicking on the headline. President Emeritus of Missouri Botanical Garden take out billboard to warn about climate change (St. Louis Beacon) Dan Burkhardt said to Peter Raven, emeritus head of MoBOT, spent $2,500 for a billboard along Interstate 70 between Warrenton and Wright City, saying "Climate change is real. Vote for candidates who will work to find solutions." Both men regularly champion environmental causes. Burkhardt created a land trust with his own farmland a few years ago and recently helped launch the nonprofit Magnificent Missouri, celebrating Missouri conservation efforts. No mention of '…

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Best of Missouri Market 2012: What to Look For

The Missouri Botanical Garden holds the 21st year of the event. A question and answer session with the co-directors.

Yesterday, "Best of Missouri Market" co-directors Chelsea Harris and Lynn Kerkemeyer talked about the history of the event. Today, the two talk about what kind of hot items will be on sale October 5-7. Patch: Describe the unique items that will be for sale. Harris: I brought my updated vendors list. We do try and bring in new vendors each year to keep the market fresh. We rotate out 30 percent of the vendors each year. Some of our fun new things are great new wood items, pepper mills and bowls and beautiful cheese trays. Those garden sharpeners made of porcelain are interesting.  Park Avenue coffee is coming this year with their 73 flavors of gooey butter cake. We have over 120 vendors offering such neat and unique things. Kerkemeyer: …

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Maplewood Resident Helps Lead Missouri Market in it's 21st Year

The Best of Missouri Market at the Missouri Botanical Garden had 26,000 visitors last year.

Twenty one years ago, civic volunteers Nora Stern and Ellen Dubinsky had an inspiring idea. They organized the “Best of Missouri Market” to raise needed funds for the Missouri Botanical Garden. In those days, it was called Shaw’s Gardens. The 21st annual event will be held throughout the grounds of the gardens October 5-7. Clearly, this show is recognized as one of the most successful outdoor events annually in St. Louis. Patch caught up to full time employees Chelsea Harris, of Maplewood, and Lynn Kerkemeyer, Maryville, IL, to talk about this annual happening. It is the responsibility of this pair to make sure the show is another big success. This year’s event runs October 5-7, rain or shine. Friday is a preview night. Patch: Why don’t …

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Groundbreaking Ceremony Celebrates Rain Garden Project

Officials expect the garden to help with stormwater issues at Mount Calvary.

A partnership between local, regional and state agencies—11 total—will bring a rain garden to Mount Calvary Lutheran Church this summer. A rain garden is a trench full of deep-rooted plants that soak in more water than grass. Gardens are designed to drink in heavy amounts of stormwater runoff to prevent that water from entering drainage systems. Officials from Brentwood, Mount Calvary, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD), Missouri Botanical Garden and Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR), among others, touted the project as a green way to improve water quality during a groundbreaking ceremony at the church on Friday morning. "With their efforts... you can see the outcome is going to be fantastic," Mayor Pat Kelly told a …

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Sommer Family Enjoys Brentwood Snow

Katrina Sommer, a Brentwood resident who lives on Pine Avenue, submitted three photos of her family enjoying today's snowfall. Sommer is running on April's ballot for a position on the Brentwood Board of Education. Maplewood-Brentwood Patch would love to share your photos too. Simply e-mail editor Ryan Martin at ryan.martin@patch.com with a caption of what you're doing and who's in the photo.

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