Watch this thread! 2008 gathering being planned

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/601123
Hi folks! A group of us are in the planning stages for a "un-official get together" round up in St. Louis
Tentative date: May 17, 2008
Place: Mo Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO

More information to follow, so watch this thread!

This message was edited Nov 1, 2007 9:33 AM

This message was edited Nov 2, 2007 12:09 PM

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This message was edited Dec 28, 2007 11:33 AM

I brought this forward, good information!

Admission

Adults (age 13 and up) $8
St. Louis City / County residents $4
Members and children (age 12 and under) Free
Children's Garden (Adults free) $3 per child
Tower Grove House (closed January and February) Free
Active-duty military receive two-for-one general Garden admission.

This message was edited Nov 1, 2007 9:38 AM

Count me in plus a girlfriend who is also a gardener.

I'm really looking forward to this. I tried to get down there a few weekends ago and ended up not going because of a soccer tournament.

We need to get terryr down here. Maybe if we all bug her with d-mails she will come. lol

That would be an added bonus if she could come!

I try to get to the St. Louis Botanical Garden a couple times a year.! Hopefully I can make this. !

Great idea! I would like to come.

Since you're looking at a Saturday, I thought the locals might be interested in knowing:

Free general admission: Wednesdays and Saturdays before noon for
residents of St. Louis City and County (with proof of residency).

About Mobot: http://www.mobot.org/visit/hours.asp

Great find! Do we still go through the fence?

I do not think most of us could go through the hole anymore. It was tough when I was about 8 yrs old. I just wonder if it is still there. It is nothing more than a small upside down V opening in the bottom of a chain link fence that must surely be some sort of antique since the fence was there long before I came into the picture.

I did not use it all the time. Back in those early days of the nation there was no charge for going into the gardens and there was several gates. I used it mostly as an escape route when someone was hollaring at us and threatening to have us jailed for trespassing. We were a bit brazen as youth. Maybe we should have gotten arrested. Any of you who have been there I am sure remember the large pools and fountain near the entrance. Back in my time there were interesting things lived in those pools like really really big crawfish, and frogs. We used to go in there with a long string and some bacon and catch those crawfish just to be doing something. From about the age of 13 on I never went to Shaws Garden. I discovered other things that were located at the end of Shaws Garden in Tower Grove Park. There used to be a few water lily ponds in there that you could smell sometimes for a couple of blocks in the summer. I think at one time Henry Shaw owned what became Tower Grove Park as well. There were also youth activities in the park, some sponsored and a awful lot not. In those days there were no drugs involved with us and no peodphile lurking behind every tree, only dangers were just us young teen boys with raging hormones. A few of us also learned Archery, Not real archery,although I think my parents thought that is what we were doing. . We were the original white bow hunters I think. Squirrels and pigeons were our big game then.

I remember at one time there was a huge dead stump of a willow tree in the park. The biggest honey bee hive I have ever seen in my life was in that thing. We were all scared of it. I got stung early one summer about 3 times because got about 25 ft from the hive while hunting the wily squirrel hmmmmmmmm ;or was I following some girls around the park ??? Its hard to remember now. Well anyway the 4th of july rolled around and I managed to obtain a couple pretty good sized roman candles. I and a friend aimed those thing like cannons at the hive and lit them off. We must have scored about 3-4 direct hits on the opening, plus several more hits on a lot of other stuff within range from those balls that missed. Not only did the air around the stump turn black with bees it also became orange with fire. We had set the hive afire as well as a few other things. Being the intelligent young men that we were, we ran. We returned later to find that the fire department had taken care of it all. I still wonder how many of them got stung. It is a wonder we did not burn up the park. But there was no more bee stings.

Note to self... wire cutters, bring wire cutters instead of the chainsaw just in case.

Is this going to be the "spring roundup" everyone was talking about?

Cat, this isn't an "official" roundup, just a bunch of us who were talking about getting together to meet each other. So far, touring the Mo Botanical garden is first on the agenda, then probably lunch somewhere, maybe a picnic in Tower Grove Park?

I'm glad. Cause St Louis is a 5 hr + drive for me and I doubt if I could come. Though it sounds like it'd be lots of fun! I want to see everyone going thru the wire! :-)

I'll make sure to get pictures from the rear veiw, haha, and be last to go so no one gets my rear, they would need the wide angle lens. Sorry you can't come, but I sure understand not being able to make the drive. I'm glad it is close or I couldn't go either.

A Link to Tower Grove Park: http://stlouis.missouri.org/parks/tower-grove/

Now E, I have to tell you the truth, I can't crawl through the hole. Walking is difficult, crawling is out of the question. Sitting I'm good at! Cathy

Tower Grove looks excellent! Can you get a reservation for a shelter for us or since there are so few of us can we just sort of wing it and look around for a table so we can all eat together? I've got a few army blankets that I could bring with that we could lay out and I know I have several extra comfy folding chairs I could bring.

(sigh) I'm quite proficient at sitting myself these days. Now c, I have to tell you there have been days I have had to get out of bed on all 4's so depending on what day it is, I may or may not be able to crawl through the hole but... I can roll. Can you roll? You know, just like how they rolled Veroqua into the dejuicing room on that movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". I loved that movie. Anyway, don't count yourself out getting through that hole if you can roll!

I wanted to add something to my post and I deleted the whole thing! Now I forgot what I wanted to say!--must be having a senior moment--LOL
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This message was edited Nov 2, 2007 2:35 PM

I've left a message at Tower Grove Park to reserve a small pavilion.

marsue, I have a lot of those senior moments. You are not alone. Were you intending to say you were coming?

cathy4, Please post how much the pavillion will cost so that you don't bear the costs alone.

Sounds like a fun thing to do but May is a long way off and my DH NEVER plans ahead--drives me crazy! LOL but I am going to keep an eye on this thread and see how things progress. St. Louis is about a six hour drive for us and wouldn't be worth it for just one day but we could make arrangements to stay a few days and see the sights in the area in addition to getting to meet all of you guys. :o) (We are both retired so work isn't a problem.)

When I hear back, I'll let you know. The one I asked about is $15

I'd be more than happy to help with the costs of that since you found such a nice location for all of us to hang out, relax, and to enjoy each other.

This sounds like so much fun. I live about 20 minutes from MoBot - so I will do whatever I can to help with the planning.

Cathy--- I think you need one up near shaws garden. the park runs from Grand all the way to Kingshighway. Tower Grove is no midget.

St. Louis about about 4 - 5 hours from me so I wouldn't be able to make the trip as much fun as it sounds like. Nowadays anything much over an hour long drive is more than I can handle. I get so stiff after that time that I can hardly get out of the vehicle and move around enough to lossen up the joints.

Oz, I can picture the fireworks and bee incident. LOL. Sounds like something my brothers, Jack, or our sons would do.

We usually don't start planning the official(?) RUs until about 2 or 3 months in advance of the date. Then we throw out a couple or 3 dates and get feedback from as many as possible within a couple weeks or so and finally settle on one. Location is also decided about then.

Oh so many questions-

Do you want people to bring a dish to pass for Tower Grove Park or any location selected for the picnic?

Since this is more of an unofficial get together, how about passing on a plant swap? Sounds as if MO has an official RoundUp and the DGers who attend that probably do a plant swap at that gathering. People might be tapped out if they had to do two plant swaps in a short period of time.

I'm thinking we'll probably only have about 10 DGers plus a spattering of friends coming with to this get together. What do you think of some sort of a little grab bag where we ask somebody who isn't attending to toss all of our names in a hat and start matching us up so that we can exchange little tokens? It could be a plant, or note cards of flowers, or a pair of gardening gloves or... something totally off the wall and silly. I've participated in both types before and must admit the gag gift exchange with the dollar limit of $5 was the best. It's actually harder to find a good gag gift for a gardener than it is to find a thoughtful gift. I done got me pink rhinestone sunglasses from a fellow gardener who just happened to know I love the color pink. Gag me they are ugly and my husband refers to them as birth control sunglasses but I love them and wear them proudly complete with the stick on price tag of $1 from the garage sale where they were purchased.

These are just random thoughts.

Eva May---- this just kind of got started because Crystal was going on about Shaws Garden and I had to get into it because of all the experiences I have had in the Shaw Neighborhood because I grew up there. It is so different now it is really almost a shock. I went to Tower Grove with my daughter before she moved to Ohio. I seen trees,paths and other things I remember from when I lived there. But the care of the pavilions and all the other things in the park was 1000% better than in my youth. Now Cathy had to send this link with pictures of many of the pavilions I hung out in. I will not be telling stories about the pavilions.

Umm, I'm sort of to blame too. I've wanted to meet stressbaby, greenbrain, and pepper for the longest time and I've been trying my darndest to get to see MoBot since last spring and all of them are sort of coming together with extra added bonuses of cool new DGers to meet.

This happens to be in the MoBot area also-
http://www.shawnature.org/
And then there’s this for a nice late night stroll in the same general vicinity-
http://www.greatriverroad.com/Pere/owls.htm

I do go to the Upper Midwest Spring Round Up which is held in WI or IL. Planning for that starts way in advance more so to be able stake claim to a good shelter with restrooms close by and a park with playground equipment for the people who bring children but it's also important to get a shelter large enough to hold all of our plants for our plant swap as well as to be able to accommodate all the dishes to pass and the door prizes and such. Weather up here can be unpredictable so it's nice to have a large enough area where everyone can get out of the rain too. There are quite a few people coming to the UMW RU and the numbers grow every year. Locations for the UMW RU change every year. It was long ago decided that the UMW RU would always be held on second weekend of June to avoid confusion as well as to keep it constant so that everyone who wanted to come could plan around that weekend. I think the Iowa RU has a set weekend every year too because a few of those people go to the UMW RU and vice versa. We're a little bit farther north and had to push ours into June because of weather. There is also a Fall UMW RU that is held in Minnesota. Now add to this a few unofficial get togethers throughout the summer and we rock and roll up north! Something else that we've been doing is garden tours of DG members properties and group trips to local nurseries. That just started and those who can go go.

If we have stepped on toes it sure wasn't intentional, sorry.

I lived in the Carondelet Park neighbor for a year about 22 years ago with my then 3 yr old daughter (now 25). Besides Shaw's Garden, we hung out at Carondelet Park, Forest Park, & Tower Grove Park. St. Louis City does have some very nice parks.

I didn't know that Tower Grove Park had their own website. Here's the link.

http://stlouis.missouri.org/parks/tower-grove/

Cathy, I personally think you have a great idea for this meeting. No toes stepped on here. As you said when we were planning the fall RU here at my home, you were/are unable to make that long a trip for health reasons. I find myself in the same situation. I see nothing wrong with having several more local area RUs to make it easier for those like us to get together with other DGers. Go ahead with the plans, please. Meet, swap plants, magazines(I got some wonderful ones from Anna that I would never have purchased but am enjoying greatly)have a picnic, etc. For those who can do the traveling, please make as many as possible and post or bring pictures, plants you have propagated from what you got at another swap, etc. Lets all try to meet as many other DGers as possible. We are family, lets act like loving, accepting family members willing to make allowances for the schedules and health & financial constraints on others lives.

Can't have a roundup without swapping plants! As far as having enough for more than one, if any of your gardens even remotely resemble mine I am sure there is always one more plant that needs pinching back or dividing. St Louis has a lot to offer as far as nurseries and public gardens go. A "garden tour" would be a great idea. I don't live up there so cannot help in that respect but would be willing to act as a designated driver if there was someone to help with directions (personally, could not direct you across the street LOL). My jeep would be able to hold five people in comfort, more if anyone would be willing to sit in cargo area.

Elle & I can't make it but go for it their a ball and everyone enjoys them at least i haven't heard of anyone coming away and not wanting to go again It is hard enough for us to get to Sadalia sp with all we have to do before we leave but we do enjoy our self's

It wouldn't be that difficult for me to bring plants since I don't have that far to travel; 12 miles or 15 minutes away. I just joined DG last February & haven't been to any roundups; though many nice folks have invited me; so I can't speak from experience. I'm just going along with whatever you all decide on. Feel free to take advantage of my close proximity & let me know if I can be of assistance in anyway. I'm also looking forward to meeting some DG folks.

FYI: I was at the garden today with my youngest daughter for only 1 1/2 hrs. It was a real quick visit. A lot of construction going on around the Shaw house & the maze was closed. Should be all done by next May though. It looks like they're putting down new sidewalks. We were able to access the Shaw house through the rear entrance.

Suggestions for hotels in the local area please. My husband isn't too thrilled about some of the areas of St Louis but then again he isn't all too thrilled about some of the areas of Chicago or Milwaukee either. Preferably not a Motel 8 or anything like that please.

Also too, my girlfriend and I will be spending two nights- Friday and Saturday so we can go to Shaw and Pere Marquette State Park. We really want to do that owl walk or similar.

Ditto Equil.

greenbrain should be able to help us. I was already talking to her about this. cathy4 or crystalnurse can also help us. If we book early enough, we can probably all get rooms at least on the same floor if not next door to each other which would be nice.

Maybe Crystal can suggest something for those coming from the West. Those coming from the East, I would suggest staying on the East side since the commute from IL to the Shaw neighborhood is very close & you'll avoid the traffic problems due to the closing of I-64. You'll also find some nice accomodations off I-270 between Rt. 159 & Rt. 111 on the east side which is still a close commute to downtown St. Louis.

I'm sorry Equil, but I have to side with your dh. I want to see you have a safe stay. Not to discourage anyone, but St. Louis ranks #1 for most dangerous cities pop. 100,000 to 499,999.

Equil, the owl walks at Pere Marquette are scheduled every Friday in October. Take a look at: http://www.worldbirdsanctuary.org/ & scroll down to "Owl Prowl". Dates are Nov. thru Mar. & reservations are required. You have an "Owl Prowl" in your neck of the woods tomorrow from 4:30 -6 p.m. at the Old School in Libertyville.
http://www.chicagoenvironment.org/events/index.cfm Click on "Owl Prowl" start date 11/4/07.
I'll keep watching for another event that weekend that may be of interest to you. Sorry!