The Purpose Garden
At the YMCA of St. Joseph
St. Joseph, MO
Photos: Pam Nelson
Size: <1 acre
Year established: 2016
Year inducted: 2023
Category: Volunteer managed
Maintained by: Northwest Missouri Master Gardeners
Entrance Fee: Free
Description: The Purpose Garden is located at the local YMCA in St. Joseph, Missouri, a town of 76,000 inhabitants. The garden is located in full sun with a naturalized yet well balanced and cared for appearance, with a mixture of native wildflowers, shrubs, grasses, and trees. The site invites use as it also contains a water garden feature, a stone wall, a concrete patio, picnic tables, a shade sail, and a Little Free Library.
The garden is maintained and managed for wildlife, with weekly maintenance done at the site. Invasives are removed and aggressive native plants are thinned out and sold in the Northwest Missouri Master Gardener plant sale each Spring or donated to other native gardens that are being started in the community. No insecticides are applied to plantings and the garden is winterized for wildlife, including retention of some seed-heads and stems for stem-hibernating insects. Fresh mulch is applied in the Spring.
What Makes this Garden Excellent: This garden demonstrates that native plants are the perfect way to create an inviting outdoor space for a community organization. The garden, sited at a facility dedicated to strengthening community and open to all regardless of the ability to pay, educates visitors of all ages and backgrounds about the beauty and benefits of native plants.
Examples of Wildlife Spotted Here:
Noted wildlife have been a family of rabbits, a variety of bees, caterpillars, butterflies, moths, and birds.
Ten Great Native Plants to See Here:
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)
Callirhoe involucrata (purple poppy mallow)
Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf coreopsis)
Echinacea paradoxa (yellow coneflower)
Echinacea simulata (glade coneflower)
Glandularia canadensis (rose verbena)
Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star)
Penstemon digitalis (foxglove beardtongue)
Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed)
Tradescantia ohiensis (Ohio spiderwort)
Signage: Signage indicates that the garden is a Monarch Waystation, and that the garden is maintained by Northwest Missouri Master Gardeners. The garden also includes plant species signage.
Accessibility: ADA accessible
Location:
3601 North Village Drive, St. Joseph, MO 64506
Coordinates:
39°48’56.4″N 94°48’30.9″W
39.815654, -94.80858
For More Information:
Contact person: Anne Manns (missanne@stjoewireless.com)