Missouri Botanical Garden

2022-23 School Year–Week Three

We started the week with a field trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden, to take a look at the newly-opened visitors center and take a walk around the garden for the first time in several months.

It was a beautiful day to be out!

Ladybug reviewed scientific notation in algebra 2 (which also conveniently applies to chemistry, as well!). In creative writing, she practiced writing from the perspective of first person plural, which is pretty different from anything she’s done before. She had an introduction to The Periodic Table of the Elements in chemistry. In history, she read about Constantine’s heirs as well as Shapur II of Persia. She finished Act II of Romeo and Juliet. This week, we baked Bilbo‘s Seed-Cake from Recipes from the World of Tolkien.

Chickadee reviewed place value in math, as well as Roman numerals. She finished the second chapter in science, learning about different kinds of wild dogs including wolves, coyotes, foxes, and painted dogs. In history, she read about Cheops, the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza (as well as the Sphinx), and the mummification process. We continued to read Heidi, as well as The Fellowship of Ring.

I have another field trip planned for next week, and I’m really looking forward to it, because it’s to a place we haven’t visited since before the beginning of the pandemic!

Chickadee Thursday

This week, we visited the Missouri Botanical for what seemed like the “first time in forever.” It was a bright, beautiful day full of vibrant colors (including Chickadee’s Majora’s Mask shirt!).

Spring in the Japanese Garden

Yesterday morning, we took a walk around the Missouri Botanical Garden. It does’t matter how many times we visit the Japanese Garden in the spring…I’m always stunned by its beauty!

Chickadee Thursday

We took a walk around the Missouri Botanical Garden this morning to admire the early spring flowers…Chickadee brought her sketchbook along to try to capture some of the blooms:

Garden Glow in the Time of Construction

So many things in the last…almost two years?!?…have been different, and Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden is no exception, but not for the reason you might think…their big construction project has put a spin on how the event is taking place this year!

The biggest difference is at the start of the event. The entrance is through the temporary Visitors’ Center and Linnean House (the latter is the location of the Blizzard Bar which is usually at the tram shelter), and the big Christmas tree is in the Gladney Rose Garden, which is actually kind of a great location for it. The tree is a different style this year, too, which we really liked, and the topper is awesome!

A lot of stuff was the same, although the routing of the path for the first part of the displays was pretty different. The lights around the Central Axis and Climatron are always my favorites, and we got to see them first thing after the big tree!

There were some new things (like a new flower garden), and one notable admission (The 12 Days of Christmas), and many familiar favorites:

For some reason, I especially liked the hedge maze this year:

Another notable change comes right at the end, as the exit is routed through the Ottoman Garden. I don’t think that particular location has been open during Garden Glow before, and it was pretty cool to see some of the trees covered in lights as we said goodbye!

So, Garden Glow was a little weird this year. It was nice to have a different experience due to something other than COVID-19, though, and we liked the new additions…maybe they’ll keep them around!