Carver Garden

The landmark Missouri Botanical Garden on Shaw in south St. Louis is the nation’s oldest botanical garden. Around every twist and turn of its 79 acres is something beautiful, whimsical, or unexpected. One of its quietest spaces is a small, relatively new garden of hydrangeas, pears, and sweet potato vines — presided over by a bronze statue of Missourian George Washington Carver. An older Carver is depicted wearing a lab coat and holding a small plant up to the sunlight — and great image of Carver’s remarkable career and the Botanical Garden’s wider educational mission. The little Carver garden is a popular place to spend a few solitary minutes.

I mentioned this today, because the Associated Press has reported the death in Los Angeles this week of Tina Allen, the Carver statue’s sculptor. She was 58. The Carver statue is one of her most famous works. You should stop by and see it while the weather is still nice.