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Gateway Gardeners and Businesses in the News

Gateway Greening is Now Seed St. Louis

Gateway Greening announced last fall that several big changes have come to the organization, including a name change to Seed St. Louis, and a move of their headquarters. The organization was founded in 1984 as Gateway to Gardeners Association by a group of dedicated volunteers who wished to see vacant lots in St. Louis City turned into productive and beautiful spaces. From there it grew as community gardens and school gardens multiplied and spread throughout the region. In 1998, the name and logo changed to Gateway Greening to reflect the growth of the organization and an expansion of its mission to include urban orchards and a land trust for future preservation. Now in 2021, the new name once again serves to clarify “our role in the community” says CEO Matt Schindler. “We wish to provide that seed for individuals to grow their own food. I am proud of our history supporting sustainable communityled gardens and orchards, and look forward to Seed St. Louis reaching more people and more communities throughout our region.” As Seed St. Louis, the group looks forward to the future as it continues to support a growing network of over 250+ community gardens, school gardens, and urban orchards, through which they believe that by educating and empowering individuals through urban agriculture, they can help connect people to the land, to their food, and to each other.

In addition to the name change, Seed St. Louis has a new have a new strategic plan, and updated mission, vision, and purpose statements they say better define the organization’s work. They are also moving offices and operations to a new location at the Delmar Divine. There, they plan to build a new demonstration garden, create unique educational opportunities, and expand operational facilities. The previous Bell Garden Demonstration Garden will be taken over by Belle Community Garden, which is part of the Seed St. Louis network, and has shared the agricultural space with Gateway Greening, now Seed St. Louis, for over 35 years.

Conservation Award Presented

The Deer Creek

Watershed Alliance

announced last fall that Rick and Lotsie Holton, longtime Missouri

Botanical G a r d e n

supporters and friends, Lotsie and Rick Holton were recently presented with the Missouri Legacy Conservation Award for their exemplary lifelong leadership, philanthropy, commitment, and service to the conservation cause in Missouri. This special award was given to them at the 6th Annual National Lewis

& Clark Missouri Conservation Heritage

Foundation Awards Banquet at the Millbottom in Jefferson City.

Gateway Gardeners and Businesses in the News

The Deer Creek Watershed Alliance, a project of Missouri Botanical Garden, started in 2008 with a small, but ever committed team of citizen volunteers who wanted to make a difference in their community and creek. Rick Holton was one of these founding citizen members of the Deer Creek Watershed Alliance Steering Committee that helped spark these efforts to improve water quality in Deer Creek over 13 years ago, and he remains the Chairman of this group today.

New Book for Local Native Plant Lovers

Besa Schweitzer, a local native plant specialist, has put together a new garden planner for native plant enthusiasts. The Wildflower Garden Planner is a month-by-month guide to what is going on in a native garden and what chores the gardener may need to attend to to get the most enjoyment and success from their native plants, the beauty they provide, and the wildlife they support. The planner includes tips, suggestions, plant lists, and observations, plus Besa’s illustrations to support the copy, and blank spaces where readers can keep their own notes, illustrations or photos. Besa finds much to do, observe and ponder in every month, and each season receives an equitable amount of space, whether it’s seemingly dormant months of January and February to the bustling seasons spring through fall. Besa has aimed the book at beginning and intermediate gardeners, but even experienced gardeners will find delight as they read along from month to month. Best of all, the information is specific to our local region, growing conditions and plants native to this area.

That she can find as much to write about in deep winter as in the growing season is testament to her observation skills inherent since childhood and honed through more than 20 years working with native plants, including 13 years working at Shaw Nature Reserve. Since 2016, Besa has been working as a native garden consultant for homeowners and schools, and also volunteers with organizations including Wild Ones, Bring Conservation Home (St. Louis Audubon Society), Missouri Master Naturalists, and other conservation-minded groups. The book is available for $15 ($20 if you want it mailed) from her website, besaschweitzer. wixsite.com/growswild/book.

Answers to Composting Quiz on Page 19:

Browns: cardboard box, peanut shell, pine needles, paper bag, dead tree leaf, paper bird, tree branches. Greens: cherries, apple core, onion, watermelon, grapes and blueberries. Tea bags are both, as the tea itself is a green, but the paper in the bag and label are browns. So you were right, whichever you chose! We’ll also count tree leaves as nitrogren if they’re green. Congratulations!