Celebrate Missouri Botanical Garden Founder's Birthday With Free Admission

The Missouri Botanical Garden is throwing a birthday party!

On Sunday, July 24, enjoy old-fashioned entertainment and free Garden and Children’s Garden admission all day long in honor of Garden’s founder Henry Shaw’s 211th birthday.  Celebrate the occasion with family-friendly activities from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. “Henry Shaw” himself will greet guests to the birthday bash – look for him strolling the Garden grounds, dressed in his familiar black top hat, alongside other actors dressed in vintage Victorian costumes. Have your silhouette portrait drawn by an artist, witness the agility of a stilt walker and listen to whimsical tunes performed by an organ grinder. Watch a special puppetry performance by Bob Kramer’s Marionettes at 10:30 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m. outdoors on Spoehrer Plaza. Enjoy the beauty of the Garden grounds and Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden, offering free July 24th admission from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Take a tour of Tower Grove House, Shaw’s original country estate, open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Stroll through the Lichtenstein Victorian District to see the bountiful summer blooms of the Kresko Victorian Garden, wind through the Kaeser Maze and visit Shaw’s mausoleum. Stop by the Children’s Garden to experience “A Missouri Adventure” in a 19th century prairie village.

In celebration of STAGES ST. LOUIS’ 25th anniversary season, featuring a month-long run of The Secret Garden, the Missouri Botanical Garden will share one of its own secrets – the historic Museum Building will be open for tours on July 24. Opened in 1859, the Museum Building originally housed the Garden’s mounted herbarium plant specimens and library, and is normally closed to the public. Stop by the Henry Shaw Cactus Society show and sale, open July 23 through 31 inside the Orthwein Floral Display Hall. Browse a wide array of cacti and succulents, enjoy expert demonstrations and get plant care advice. Visit the Spink Pavilion for Café Flora brunch, offered every Sunday in summer from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Choose from an a la carte menu and dine inside or out, overlooking the Garden’s central reflecting pools. Call (314) 577-0200 for more information. Missouri Botanical Garden admission is free for all visitors on Sunday, July 24. Regular admission is normally $8, with St. Louis City and County residents enjoying discounted admission of $4 and free admission on Wednesday and Saturday mornings until noon. Children ages 12 and under and Garden members are free. Children’s Garden admission is regularly $5 for ages 3 to 12.

*Description by the Missouri Botanical Garden.