Missouri Botanical Garden
Missouri Botanical Garden, popularly called Shaw's Garden, a privately endowed garden and arboretum in Missouri. The 79-acre (32-hectare) garden is in St. Louis; the 2,400-acre (970-hectare) arboretum (a place where trees are grown for scientific or educational purposes) is at Gray Summit, 27 miles (43 km) west of St. Louis. In the garden are nearly 3,500 kinds of plants, one of the world's largest collections of orchids, and the largest Japanese garden in North America. The Climatron is a geodesic dome providing a range of tropical and subtropical climates.
Henry Shaw, a St. Louis businessman, founded the garden in 1857-58 and opened it to the public in 1859.