From MOBOT: The Missouri Botanical Garden has received a gift of nearly 6.5 acres of land near our main St. Louis campus from the Oertli family, owners of Guarantee Electrical Company since the 1940s and long supporters of the Garden. The location at 3405 Bent Avenue will be used to create the Oertli Family Hardy Plant Nursery, alleviating the restricted amount of current plant production space. This will allow the Garden to grow hardy plants to support the continued development of the living collection and displays. The Nursery will become a center for performing more plant trials for suitability to the St. Louis climate, to provide more educational interpretation involving the importance of plant conservation, and to propagate endangered plants for conservation projects in the Midwest and around the world. Construction will begin soon, and we hope to be growing plants there by the end of 2016. A map showing its location and the tentative layout of the nursery are attached. This facility will not be open to the public, but you will have the opportunity for a tour when it opens. We are grateful to the Oertli family, and also thank Lelia and David Farr, June and Fred Kummer, and the William T. Kemper Foundation – Commerce Bank Trustee for the leadership gifts that made this exciting development for the Garden possible.
Support is still needed to complete this important project, and naming opportunities are still available. To see how you can help, visit www.mobot.org/fortheworld.
Download the press release here- Nursery News Release
