St. Louis County Parks

Magnolia virginiana, commonly called sweet bay magnolia, it typically grows as either a 15-20' tall tree with a spreading, rounded crown or as a shorter, suckering, open, multi-stemmed shrub.   Features cup-shaped, sweetly fragrant (lemony), 9-12 petaled, creamy white, waxy flowers (2-3" diameter) which appear in mid-spring and sometimes continue sporadically throughout the summer. Oblong-lanceolate shiny green foliage is silvery beneath. Foliage is evergreen to semi-evergreen in the South, but generally deciduous in the St. Louis area. Cone-like fruits with bright red seeds mature in fall and can be showy.

Upper Creve Coeur Memorial Park

Drippings Springs at Creve Coeur Memorial Park

Creve Coeur Lake. 

Former WPA Bathhouse at Fort Bellefontaine 

Wildflowers at Fort Bellefontaine

Prairie Flowers at Fort Bellefontaine

New Fountain at Tilles County Park

Lone Elk County Park.

The Lindell Gordon Memorial Garden at Bee Tree County Park

Wildflowers at Queeny County Park.

A drive through Lone Elk County Park.

Farm Friday at Suson

Farm Friday at Suson. 

A view from inside the Lindburg Automotive Center at the Museum of Transportation.

·         American Holly “Ilex opaca”-Height is a medium tree, up to 60ft tall, but usually much smaller most of the time.  Acceptable for planting near utility lines. Measured in spring of 2015 this tree gives out $3 in benefits yearly.  Fun fact: a good food source for many animals including: Wild Turkey, Northern Bobwhite, Mourning Dove, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, other songbirds, Eastern Gray Squirrel, White-tailed Deer, Eastern Chipmunk, Meadow Vole, White-footed Mouse, Red Fox, Raccoon, Eastern Cottontail, and Eastern Box Turtle.  Human uses include used for landscaping; Leaves from the American Holly can be used to make a tea-like beverage. American Holly tea does not contain caffeine.