This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 24, 2009 - Turning 150 in 2009, the Missouri Botanical Garden will host a year full of special events. The highlight is the "Global Garden" speaker series. Six prominent experts will speak on topics near and dear to the garden's mission: to help people around the world conserve and manage Earth's resources and ecosystems.
While St. Louisans may know the garden as a beautiful place to spend a lazy Saturday, to stroll past an outdoor wedding or to show off to out-of-town guests, many may not know its importance in the world of science. "The garden is the gild on the lily," said Lynn Kerkemeyer, special exhibits manager at the garden. "But the hard work of science and research around the world is a powerful element of who we are and what we do," she said, calling it "the unseen garden."
As researchers, scientists and writers from elsewhere, the six "Global Garden" speakers are familiar with the work of the scientific "unseen garden." While some have already walked the beautiful paths and look forward to a return visit, others are excited to see the garden for the first time.
Here are quick takes on the perspectives of the "The Global Garden" speakers:
Chris Kilham
An author and educator who searches the world for medicinal plants, he has been called "the Indiana Jones of natural medicine" by CNN. He teaches ethnobotany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and advocates plant-based medicines.
His perspective: Kilham warns of the loss of possible cures for diseases because of climate change and ecosystem destruction. "I would like people to have an understanding of the medicinal plant riches available worldwide and the need to preserve our environment and to help indigenous populations."
His take on the garden: "It is one of the great botanical gardens in the world -- a bastion of botanical knowledge. When I think of the top four or five botanical gardens that exist, they're in that list."
Speaking time: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, March 26.
May Berenbaum
Chair of the department of entomology at the University of Illinois, she is an expert on colony collapse disorder, the recent and unexplained disappearance of the honeybees essential to our food supply.
Her perspective: "For three-quarters of the planet's flowering plants, life would be impossible without pollinator partners," she said in a phone interview.
Her take on the garden: "You'd go to St. Louis just to go to the Missouri Botanical Garden," she said. She called botanical gardens essential in understanding global climate change since they hold the historical records about life on earth. "They're the closest thing we have to time machines," she said. "Without these collections, we would have no way to know how today's flora differs from flora from a century ago."
Speaking time: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, April 23.
David Wolfe
Professor of plant ecology at Cornell University, he will speak about the effects of climate change.
His perspective: "The climate is now a moving target. We're really the first generation of gardeners who can't rely on the historical record to determine what to plant or how to grow it," Wolfe will discuss the way the disruption of a species can ripple through an entire ecosystem. But he also sees hope, especially from gardeners, calling them "experimenters." "Gardeners can be at the forefront of not just coping with this, but of becoming part of the solution," he said.
His take on the garden: "[Botanical] gardens help in the education and motivation of this fraction of our citizens who can be ambassadors of our environment."
Speaking time: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, June 18.
Tom Swetnam
Director of the world's premier tree-ring research laboratory at the University of Arizona, he will discuss what tree rings say about natural and cultural history.
His perspective: "Tree rings have been used to reconstruct the history of Native American occupation of the Southwest," he said, explaining that such historical information can show how people have responded to climate change. Today, this information is important to understand how recent droughts in the western United States impact water resources and ecosystems, especially through fire.
His take on the garden: It "has such a long and distinguished history in understanding and conserving the natural world, it's a great honor and pleasure to speak for the anniversary."
Speaking time: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, July 23.
Adam Gollner
Author of "The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Obsession, Commerce, and Adventure," he will speak on the incredible diversity of fruit, calling them central to botanical life in the way plants reproduce themselves.
His perspective: Botanical gardens are "mysterious boundary zones between nature and civilization - thresholds where we can experience the wonders of wild spaces in an urban sanctuary."
His take on the garden: It's a place I've been longing to visit ever since hearing the legendary New York Times reporter R.W. Apple rhapsodize about its rhododendrons."
Speaking time: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Aug. 20.
Richard Louv
Author of the best-selling book "Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" and the 2008 recipient of the Audubon Medal, he will speak on the importance of getting children outside and into nature.
His perspective: "As the young spend less and less of their lives in natural surroundings, their senses narrow. This reduces the richness of human experience." He sites evidence linking an absence of nature in our lives to more childhood obesity, attention disorders and depression.
His take on the garden: The garden is a place that cherishes the natural world, a world "from which we - especially our children - receive a sense of awe and wonder."
Speaking time: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15.
All lectures will be in the Shoenberg Theater. Tickets cost $10 for the afternoon session and $15 for the evening session ($5 and $10 for garden members).
For more information on the Global Garden speaker series and to purchase tickets, visit www.mobot.org/150/global_garden/default.asp
For a schedule of all 150th Anniversary events, including the Global Garden, visit www.mobot.org/events/calendarcatview.asp?cat=4
Julia Evangelou Strait is a freelance science writer based in St. Louis. She has a master's degree in biomedical engineering and works in hospital epidemiology for BJC HealthCare.