Shop
Donate
Native Plant Garden
at Ladue City Hall
Ladue, MO
Photos: Ladue Garden Club volunteers
Size: approximately 20’x30′
Year established: Planted in 2017, redesigned in 2022
Year inducted: 2025
Category: Volunteer managed by Ladue Garden Club
Entrance Fee: Free
Description: The Native Plant Garden at Ladue City Hall presents over 30 non-aggressive, more formal looking native plants. A goal of the garden is to show that native plantings can be a part of a tidy and attractive garden design. Most of the plants are mass-planted in a defined space and labeled with Wild Ones/Grow Native! plant tags. Each species included was chosen to provide a variety of color, height, and texture throughout different seasons. The plants here are well-suited for the garden’s size and the full to part sun and medium to dry water conditions of the garden.
The garden is maintained by members of the Ladue Garden Club, which has a dedicated committee created for the purpose of managing the garden. The Club began managing the garden in 2017 and then later redesigned the area to more clearly make it both an inviting space and an educational resource for anyone who is interested in bringing native plants into their own yards.
Committee members meet on a monthly basis, or more often, as needed during the growing season to weed, plant, edit and clean up the garden. Seeds are collected as they become available. After leaf drop at the end of the fall, a light cleanup is performed to maintain a neat appearance. Foliage is allowed to remain standing through the winter months and is removed in the spring when warmer weather arrives. A light mulching is applied at the start of the growing season.
What Makes this Garden Excellent: This garden is an excellent example of how native plants can be used beautifully in suburban applications where people might expect more traditional, formal plantings. The garden is located in an area where most yards are primarily turf with manicured exotic plant beds and exhibits non-aggressive, more formal looking native plants that could fit in many of the yards in the area.
The garden attracts pollinators, birds and rabbits and is a wonderful, lively showcase for some of our most beautiful native plants.
Ten Great Native Plants to See Here:
Amorpha canescens (leadplant)
Amsonia ciliata (fringed bluestar)
Eryngium yuccifolium (rattlesnake master)
Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower)
Penstemon digitalis (foxglove beardtongue)
Ratibida pinnata (grey-head coneflower)
Scuttellaria incana (downy skullcap)
Solidago drummondii (cliff goldenrod)
Sporobolus heterolepsis (prairie dropseed)
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (New England aster)
Signage: Most of the plants are labeled with Wild Ones/Grow Native! plant tags. Visitors to the garden will find a seed bank box where seeds from each species are annually collected, packaged, labeled and are free to take. Also inside the seed bank box is a site map listing all of the plants growing in the garden, along with detailed growing information sheets for each.
Accessibility: The garden is accessible on two sides, having a parking lot with accessible spaces on the south side and an accessible sidewalk on the east side. The path to the seedbank is loose stone.
9345 Clayton Rd.
Ladue, MO 63124
Coordinates:
38° 38′ 33.1368” N 90° 22′ 33.5784” W
38.642538, -90.375994
For More Information:
Contact Kari Kramer (Ladue Garden Club) at kkramer314@gmail.com>
Grow Native! is generously supported by these sponsors
Grow Native! recognizes our 2025 sponsors (as of January 2, 2025) and thanks them for their generous support.
Champion Supporter
Champion Sponsor
Platinum Sponsor
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
