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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 9h

The Elizabeth von Arnim Society invites proposals for "Literary Gardens: Cultivation, Movement, and Modernism," an international online conference to be held February 12–13, 2027, in conversation with #TheLiteraryGarden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social elizabethvonarnimsociety.org/conferences/...

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden This book follows a tiny bug who lived on what he believed to be a purple planet, in which everything seemed the same. He builds a spaceship and after traveling around a star called “a,” he discovered that his home planet was a violet kept inside a book. On loan by Carmen Ulloa

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden #ElPlanetaLila Brazilian author Ziraldo Alves Pinto (1932–2024)—more commonly called Ziraldo—started his career as a cartoonist and writer, whose children’s books have been enormously successful. #NationalLatinxHeritageMonth #NationalHispanicHeritageMonth #NationalBookMonth

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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

After it rains, go outside and breathe in deeply. That wonderful earthy smell in the air? It’s called petrichor. And climate change could alter when and where it happens.

scientificamerican.com

How climate change is altering petrichor, the glorious smell after it rains

As the planet changes, so will this nostalgia-triggering scent

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Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotgarden.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Learn about your favorite herbs in the Missouri Botanical Garden Press' latest project, 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘴 𝘈-𝘡: buff.ly/B2rxpWw Now on view at 📍 @mobotmuseum.bsky.social in its current exhibition, The Literary Garden: The Cultivation of Plants & Gardens in Narratives! 🎥 Nathan Kwarta #MOBOTGarden

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden #MagicalRealism Guayusa (Hedysomum cumbalense) is a South American fragrant shrub used to make tea and flavorings. In Carchi province, Ecuador, local people burn it to make charcoal for fuel, as well as use it for building walls and posts. @mobotgarden.bsky.social Herbarium

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden #MagicalRealism Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City by Cossio is a novel similar in importance to those of Marquez. Trees and forests in Ecuador play a role in the novel, stressing a connection to nature and Indigenous roots, as well as the woman’s role in latiné culture.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#MagicalRealism Plants play several roles throughout the novel, including the palms and ferns of the tropical landscape, the presence of a banana plantation, and the chestnut tree that plays a pivotal role in being tied to the novel’s protagonist. Guiana chestnut @mobotgarden.bsky.social Herbarium

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden #MagicalRealism is often considered to be the literary language of the post-colonial world. In 1982, Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez won the Nobel Prize in Literature for ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE, which follows 7 generations of the Buendía family.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

📢Final performance of THE LITERARY GARDEN series!🌿📚💚🎸 Frets and Flora: Botanical Themes in Guitar Literature Saturday, October 17, 2026; 11am and 1pm (30-45 mins) @mobotmuseum.bsky.social @mobotgarden.bsky.social Free with Garden admission www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/sachs-museum...

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Thanks to KSDK for talking to Rubia this weekend! www.ksdk.com/video/news/l...

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden To attract these nocturnal pollinators, flowers rely on strong scents rather than colors, and extend on long stalks beyond leaves so bats can easily detect them using echolocation. Pix credits: 1—Dr. Nathan Muchhala, UMSL; 2— @mobotgarden.bsky.social Herbarium

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden A group of particular interest is the bellflower genus Burmeistera (Campanulaceae), which includes about 150 bat-pollinated species in the cloud forests of Central and South America, many of which were discovered and named in collaboration with scientists @mobotgarden.bsky.social

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

One plant group of particular interest is the bellflower genus Burmeistera (Campanulaceae), which includes about 150 bat-pollinated species in the cloud forests of Central and South America, many of which were discovered and named in collaboration with scientists @mobotgarden.bsky.social

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Bats are Essential Pollinators #TheLiteraryGarden While bats have a hold on our literary imagination as hematophages, only 3 species of S. American bat are vampires. Nectar-feeding bats hover, extending tongues to reach nectar hidden deep in flowers. Anoura fistulata's tongue 1.5x its body length!

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) is thought to have protective properties against enchantment and supernatural creatures. Driven through the heart, rowan stakes destroy a vampire’s source of life and pin them to their graves to keep them from rising. @mobotgarden.bsky.social Herbarium

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

#Dracula #TheLiteraryGarden #Vampires Irish author Bram Stoker (1847–1912) created in Dracula one of the most enduring personifications of a vampire character in his popular novel. Apotropaic plants ward off vampires; the cover of this text features a repeating garlic blossom garland pattern.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

We’re at it again! The Missouri Botanical Garden hosts STL City Silent Book Club this October for another day of resting, touring, and reading. 🌻📖🪷📚🪻 📍 @mobotgarden.bsky.social @mobotmuseum.bsky.social 🗓️ Mon, October 12th, 1–4pm 🎟️ Free with Garden admission www.eventbrite.com/e/silent-boo...

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Oh this is gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing! Love the connections from Tolkien's life ... 🌳

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A specific Black pine was considered to be Tolkien’s favorite tree at Oxford Botanic Garden, UK (lost in 2014). Its rough gray bark and twisting branches inspired the creation of the Treebeard and the Ents in THE TWO TOWERS, The Lord of The Rings. Pix: @mobotgarden.bsky.social Herbarium

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

#NationalHobbitDay #TheLiteraryGarden The world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is pervaded with a distinct sense of reverence for the natural world. In the 2nd book of #LOTR trilogy, Tolkien introduces Fangorn Forest, home to the Ents, tree-like shepherds of the forest.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden A symbol in the novel is an oak tree that Victor Frankenstein watches get destroyed by nature’s power from a lightning strike. Later, he identifies with this tree as he is believed to be destroyed by an uncontrollable natural phenomenon. Sessile oak @mobotgarden.bsky.social

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#Frankenstein #TheLiteraryGarden #MaryShelley In 1818, author Mary Shelley (1797–1851) published Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus—a seminal work (and epistolary novel) that blends several literary genres, including Romanticism, Gothic fiction, and science fiction. Pix: Virginia Harold

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#scents #vampires #TheLiteraryGarden Meet the Vampire Perfumer, Rubia Homa is a Literary Learning Day event @mobotmuseum.bsky.social on Saturday, September 26, 11:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Free with @mobotgarden.bsky.social admission. www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/sachs-museum...

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State of St. Louis @stateofstlouis.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Next Thursday in St. Louis City 6 pm September 24th @mobotgarden.bsky.social event at @mobotmuseum.bsky.social 🧛‍♀️ Vampire Scent Culture with perfumer Rubia Homa Guests are encouraged to dress in vampire/goth attire Garden Admission Fee applies www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/evening-talk...

static.klipy.com

True Blood: Deborah Ann Wohl's Vampire Fangs

Alt: True Blood: Deborah Ann Wohl's Vampire Fangs

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden #PoisonIvy is native to eastern Asia and North America, is a member of the cashew and pistachio family (not an ivy!). For people who are allergic to the species Toxicodendron radicans, they are reacting to the urushiol oil in the plant. Pix: @mobotgarden.bsky.social Herbarium

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden #comics A shrinking violet of a botanist (or a radical innovator depending on origin story), Pamela Isley joined the DC universe as Poison Ivy, a plant-controlling nemesis to Batman in June 1966. Portrayed as an eco-warrior, she is obsessed with plants and ecological extinction.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

#TheHourOfTheBees by Jodi Harvey now on view in #TheLiteraryGarden exhibition @mobotmuseum.bsky.social @mobotgarden.bsky.social This sculpture reimagines the novel as a physical meditation on time, memory, and the fragile connections between generations and the natural world. Pix: Virginia Harold

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Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotgarden.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Join us at mobotmuseum.bsky.social to hear the rest of 𝘗𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘳𝘺 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 in English and Spanish read by Garden scientist Laura Toro on November 11 or March 10! 📖 Learn more about story time at Sachs Museum here: buff.ly/qBKyI2u

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

#scents #vampire #TheLiteraryGarden Join perfumer Rubia Homa for an evening talk @mobotmuseum.bsky.social Sept. 24 that delves into what repels vampires, and how they attract humans. Seating is first come, first served. Free with LightForm admission. www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/evening-talk...

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden In BLEACH, ume is one of several traditional Japanese flowers used to represent Japanese culture symbolically. Ume is known to represent renewal, endurance, and strength, particularly since the flowers bloom at a cold time of year. Pix: @mobotgarden.bsky.social Herbarium

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden BLEACH is a manga series (with a companion anime series) that features Japanese plants as elements in the narrative. Orihime Inoue has a six-petal hairpin where each petal is a manifestation of her soul; it is is depicted on the cover between her eye and ear.

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Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotgarden.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Learn about your favorite herbs in the Missouri Botanical Garden Press' latest project, 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘴 𝘈-𝘡: buff.ly/B2rxpWw Now on view at 📍 buff.ly/vgfwanU in its current exhibition, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 & 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴! 🎥 Nathan Kwarta #MOBOTGarden

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State of St. Louis @stateofstlouis.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Hey, St. Louis 🌱 gardeners and history nerds

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

#LiteraryLearningDay Sat. Sept. 19, join Dail Chambers and her North Saint Louis Community to explore their work into the plant material, foods, herbs, and built environment of their neighborhoods and its relationship to the Mississippi River. www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/sachs-museum...

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden #poetry Jessica Palmer is one of the artists featured in the current exhibition @mobotmuseum.bsky.social. She often uses text in her work, but she is also inspired by writers, past and present, including poets Katherine Riegel and Robert Seatter included here.

Green panel with black and light purple accents. Poem text: What I Would Like to Grow in My Garden
Katherine Riegel
Peonies, heavy and pink as ’80s bridesmaid dresses
and scented just the same. Sweet pea,
because I like clashing smells and the car
I drove in college was named that: a pea-green
Datsun with a tendency to backfire.
Sugar snap peas, which I might as well
call memory bites for how they taste like
being fourteen and still mourning the horse farm
I had been uprooted from at ten.
Also: sage, mint, and thyme—the clocks
of summer—and watermelon and blue lobelia.
Lavender for the bees and because I hate
all fake lavender smells. Tomatoes to cut
and place on toasted bread for BLTs, with or without
the b and the l. I’d like, too, to plant
the sweet alyssum that smells like honey and peace,
and for it to bloom even when it’s hot,
and also lilies, so I have something left
to look at when the rabbits come.
They always come. They are
always hungry. And I think I am done
protecting one sweet thing from another.

Copyright © 2018 Katherine Riegel. Reprinted with permission of the author. This poem originally appeared in Tin House, Spring 2018.

Green panel with black and blue plant accents. Poem text:
The Topiarist´s Wife
Robert Seatter
Up close, she saw the hornbeam
as leaf and shadow, shadow

and leaf, counted with precision
each nick and cut, the industry

of his fingers in the early summer hours
before she´d ever left his bed.

Stepping backwards she caught
at specific shapes before her eyes:

head of a bird, blade of a wing,
what his mind could make

out of the cool suburban air,
serration, perforation. At the arch

before the walkway, she heard
the green screech of a peacock,

saw tail fan open, plume on plume.
But it was from the upstairs windows

that she observed in shadow
his whole unknowable menagerie:

the gryphon sprawled in foreign
desire, the clipped vault

of the unicorn rising above,
beyond, their garden wall.

Copyright © 2025 Robert Seatter. Reprinted with permission of the author robertseatter.co.uk

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St. Louis Public Radio @stlpublicradio.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

A corn infection that Midwestern farmers dread is also a culinary delicacy in Mexico. Now, farmers, chefs and a secretive vegetable broker are bringing it to St. Louisans.

stlpr.org

Meet huitlacoche, a gnarly corn fungus that's now gracing plates in St. Louis

A corn infection that Midwestern farmers dread is also a culinary delicacy in Mexico. Now, farmers, chefs and a secretive vegetable broker are bringing it to St. Louisans.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden Camassia scilloides (wild hyacinth) bulbs were once an important food source for Indigenous people in the region. In the poem, Eliot famously references a hyacinth garden and a “hyacinth girl” carrying an armful of flowers. Pix: @mobotgarden.bsky.social Herbarium

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden Eliot speaks of flowers and flower gardens in this epic poem, as a meditation on the changing seasons. The Waste Land’s hyacinth garden sets the stage for feelings of alienation and questions about life and death which echo through the poem.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden #StLouis #poetry Poet T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) was born in St. Louis and an admirer of plant life, and often connected garden settings to theologically complex material. His most famous work is the lengthy and complex The Waste Land (1922).

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Phlox paniculata's scientific name derives from the Greek word for “flame,” likely because of their bright color. It has been a staple in American gardens since the early 20th c. Teasdale was born into a wealthy St. Louis family and her poetry collection LOVE SONGS won the Pulitzer Prize in 1918.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

“Into the garden peace comes back with twilight, Peace that since noon had left the purple phlox, The heavy-headed asters, the late roses And swaying hollyhocks.” Teasdale used the pastoral to illuminate the loss of innocence that rural America was experiencing in the wake of upheaval by war.

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

#TheLiteraryGarden St. Louis native Sara Teasdale's 1920 collection FLAME AND SHADOW features “In a Garden” that portrays an idyllic setting ripe with color and texture evoking a pre-WWI America. A sense of uncertainty is established as peace has come back to the garden after being disturbed.

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Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotgarden.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

We are thrilled to share some big news from the Garden's Peter H. Raven Library: St. Louis native Dorothy (Deecy) Stephens Gray has donated a rare first edition of Mark Catesby’s The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands etc. 1731-1743.

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State of St. Louis @stateofstlouis.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Hey, St. Louis vampire fans 6 pm September 24th @mobotgarden.bsky.social event at @mobotmuseum.bsky.social Vampire Scent Culture with perfumer Rubia Homa Guests are encouraged to dress in vampire/goth attire Garden Admission Fee applies www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/evening-talk...

static.klipy.com

Count von Count: Sesame Street Muppet

Alt: Count von Count: Sesame Street Muppet

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Sachs Museum at Missouri Botanical Garden @mobotmuseum.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Experience the vivacious talent and lyrical stylings of The Opera Bell Band on August 29 @mobotmuseum.bsky.social @mobotgarden.bsky.social! Two performances: 11am & 1pm, free with Garden admission, sponsored by Nancy Ridenour www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/sachs-museum...

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