A Summer Visit to the Garden of Bruce and Chick Buehrig -

Bellerive Acres, Mo

Long-time readers will remember the Winter visit to the Buehrig Garden after a light snow in 2022.

A Winter Visit to the Garden of Bruce and Chick Buehrig –

The magical snowy scene proved the two-acre garden in Bellerive Acres near UMSL’s campus is outstanding any time of year. This is in part due to the inventive and creative eyes of Bruce and Chick Buehrig, along with the THOUSANDS-yes, thousands of plants, from majestic, mature conifers down to the smallest of hostas layered throughout the rolling terrain.

But it’s not just about the plants. Missouri limestone from St. Genevieve plays a huge part in why the garden appears natural and timeless, like it’s been there for centuries, not just since 1993. The natural stream running along the bottom also provides a sense of permanence as well as opportunity for structures like quaint bridges and overhanging limbs that shade the flowing water below. Water is a repeated feature throughout the garden from top to bottom. Totally unseen from the street, a secret grotto with a small stream and waterfall is hidden mere feet from the curb. A larger waterfall and pond in the back garden is heard long before it is seen along the winding paths.

But back to those plants…Plant collectors extraordinaire, Bruce and Chick have over 600 daylilies and 700 hostas alone thriving under mature oaks. It’s impossible not to notice the 110 Japanese maples and 30 dwarf ginkgos thriving among the redbuds, magnolias, and dogwoods that make up much of the understory’s deciduous woody plants. All these are superbly balanced with over 550 conifers of every size and shape giving structure, texture, and color during the winter months, along with a perfect background for their deciduous friends in spring, summer, and autumn.

Always generous with their knowledge, Bruce and Chick have written numerous articles for the Hosta, and Daylily Journals. Their generosity reaches around the globe with the Buehrig Garden welcoming the Missouri Botanical Garden Tour, Pond-O-Rama tours, and multiple local Master Gardener tours as well as specialty tours like the International Conifer Society and National Hosta Society. Back home, St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles featured the Buehrig Garden in their June/July 2019 issue.

The highlight of the summer is daylily season, when the Buehrigs spend about four hours a day between them deadheading to keep things tidy. Big jobs are in the very capable hands of Senad Duracak and his son, Haris, who help part-time.

It’s no surprise that the Buehrigs are Members of the National Conifer Society. The National Daylily Society, West County Daylily Society, National Hosta Society, and St. Louis Hosta Society can also claim Bruce and Chick as members. Maintaining and keeping track of the Daylily and Hosta gardens at Missouri Botanical Garden is one of their duties. You can find them helping to organize the army of volunteers that dig and divide the daylilies each year for the annual Daylily Sale at Missouri Botanical Garden.

The Daylily Sale at Missouri Botanical Garden has generated over $350,000 in proceeds directly donated to the horticulture division over the years from the society. The sale is the perfect place to find unique daylilies divided directly from MBG’s Daylily Garden and create a little daylily magic in your own garden.

The 2026 sale is August 15th, starting at 9:00 am. For details, see:

Missouri Botanical Garden Daylily Association Plant Sale

QUICK FACTS

-Year garden started- 1993

-Size of garden- Two acres

-Any gardens or people that inspire you? Longwood and Chanticleer in the U.S., along with Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and R.H.S. Wisley in the U.K.

-Favorite gardening tool?

Bruce=Hori Hori knife.

Chick=Clump splitter used to divide hostas and daylilies.

-If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only have ONE plant to keep you company, what would it be? (It doesn’t have to be a food-bearing plant since this island has a free buffet!)

Bruce=Hellebore

Chick=Lavender