2025 St. Louis Urban Gardening Symposium

May 31, 2025

Join us Saturday, May 31st, 2025 for this year’s St. Louis Urban Gardening Symposium located at Brightside St. Louis’ Demonstration Garden at 4646 Shenandoah Avenue.

The symposium will feature a keynote speaker who will share their expertise in native plants and pollinators. We will also showcase local experts with experience and knowledge of installing and caring for native plants and creating garden designs beneficial to pollinators and beautiful for your neighborhood. You’ll enjoy the variety of organizations represented- from MSD Project Clear to St. Louis Master Gardeners!

Following the initial showcase, concurrent workshops led by experts in their respective fields will help gardeners learn how to plan, plant and care for a neighborhood or home garden. There will be opportunities to “Ask the Experts” between sessions and to purchase native plants after the workshops!

Concurrent Workshops

Plant Health Care – Mark Grueber, MDC

It is important to learn the best management practices for keeping your plants healthy and your garden looking its best.  Learn from an expert to identify common weeds, pests and diseases and how to minimize damage to your plants.

The Dirt on Soils – Evan Parker, MDC

Having healthy soil is the first step in creating a healthy garden.  Different plants prefer different soil conditions and knowing the nutrient content, physical properties, pH and contaminants present in your soil are important for the health of your plants.

Less Work, More Nature: Intro to Native Plant Design- Sean Gunsten, Brightside St. Louis

Join our beginner-friendly seminar and learn practical tips and techniques to make an attractive native plant garden that supports local wildlife and thrives with minimal maintenance. Design will be emphasized as we cover best practices in site selection, plant choice, and plant placement that optimize both beauty and ecological impact while reducing work. We’ll also cover simple methods of site preparation, installation, and maintenance that will help you more easily enhance your landscape while making a meaningful impact on the environment.

Neighbors Naturescaping Q & A! – Mary Lou Green, Brightside St. Louis

Are you interested in participating in Brightside’s Neighbors Naturescaping program? Do you have questions about the process? Best practices and tips will be covered in this session and you’ll have the chance to go straight to the source to get all your questions answered!

Milkweeds & Monarchs

Enjoy an in depth workshop all about the variety of milkweeds native to our region and how to support monarchs in your home or community garden project.

Charge:  $10 per person

Neighbors Naturescaping Participants and Volunteers:  Register early! Neighbors Naturescaping participants can take part in this event at no charge. Please sign up below to register for the Symposium.

Parking and Shuttle:  Parking is limited by the Demonstration Garden. Additional parking is available at the St. Louis City Water Division located at 1640 South Kingshighway, 63110.  Please park in the rear of the building and shuttle service will be available to and from the symposium.

Here is the event flyer ready to share!

Register for the St. Louis Urban Gardening Symposium

Join us for the St. Louis Urban Gardening Symposium on Saturday, May 31st from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Complete the form below to register for this exciting event on gardening with native plants, which includes special guest speakers, concurrent workshops, time to “Ask the Experts” and a native plant sale.

If you have questions or need help registering, please call the Brightside office at 314-772-4646.

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