Missouri Botanical Garden

... is one of the happiest places on earth. No, really. It's a huge property... 79 acres. I had to look that up, and I also just learned that it "is the nation's oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a National Historic Landmark," according to their website. Who knew. At any rate, I've been going to this garden with my family for as long as I can remember. In fact, my parents have a wedding anniversary tradition involving the daylily section and I think it is one of my mom's hopes that I either get married there or have my reception there.

The place is filled with gorgeous flowers and beautifully landscaped gardens and lately, art. I don't remember it specifically previously to Chihuly, but since then, they've played host to at least 2 different other artists. Chihuly filled the entire garden with his famous glassworks, sometimes in a display of their own, sometimes interspersed in the plants themselves. It was stunning. [There's a set on my flickr photo page to see them] Then there was an exhibit called Chapungu which featured art from Zimbabwe. And now Niki, an artist whose art literally killed her. She died of emphysema from breathing in fibers in her earlier works. However, the work she did in her lifetime was stunning and unlike anyone else. In fact, WM and I had spent a lot of time with one of her works at the Laumeier Sculpture Park just the day before.

At any rate, besides the added art installation, we also completely lucked out with the irises. They were in bloom... and I mean in bloom. It was a riot of color and good smells.

Since there were so many pictures uploaded from MBG (73), I'm only putting a few here. Go check 'em all out at flickr, and let me know which ones you liked best.










Next post: Regarding a new addition to my life...