Giving thanks for our native-plant people

Tributes to Ann Case and Scott Woodbury.

Veronia augustifolia blooming in Ann Case’s garden.

By

Lisa Brunette

I recently volunteered to write a couple of profiles of “keystone” members of our St. Louis Wild Ones chapter, the largest in the country. This is to celebrate the chapter’s twenty-fifth anniversary. If you’re not familiar with Wild Ones: It’s a national organization dedicated to educating and supporting gardeners in their native-plant landscaping efforts.

My subjects were Ann Case and Scott Woodbury, and you can read their profiles via those links, which will take you to the Wild Ones blog. They’re both well-known in local gardening circles because of Ann’s lifelong volunteer work and Scott’s gardening leadership, especially in his capacity as founder and first president of Wild Ones itself. He’s also noted for leading the development of the celebrated Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Reserve.

I feel fortunate to have spent that time with Ann when I interviewed her this summer, as she passed away just this month. Ann taught classes on native-plant gardening at the Missouri Botanical Garden and answered questions for the helpline there and at the state extension office. She was also a Master Gardener. It was lovely to tour her 1.5-acre garden this summer, and I couldn’t help taking gobs of photos, so I thought I’d share some of them with you here. Ann’s spirit lives on, through her beautiful garden, the many gardeners she inspired through the years, and the native plants she loved.

The immense shade gardens showcase what you can do with understory areas.

An owl carved from a pin-oak trunk.

Front walkway.

Indian pinks, thriving in the shade.

This trumpet honeysuckle vine has been growing here so long, the stalk is like an old, gnarled tree trunk.

Ohio spiderwort.

Virginia creeper leads the eye to a bird bath.

Ann’s trees were her favorite part of the garden.