Floral Clock
May through October 2009

Photo credit: Graphic rendering of the sesquicentennial Floral Clock at the Missouri Botanical Garden, on display from May through October 2009 in honor of the institution’s historic 150th anniversary.Photo courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden. Download high resolution image. Learn more: Take a quick behind the scenes tour of the floral clock construction. View a comprehensive gallery of construction images at Flickr. Download News Release Media Room Home Page Floral Clock Home Page

For our 150th anniversary, the Garden honors our Victorian and St. Louis roots with the introduction of our first-ever floral clock! The clock, located along the central reflecting pools, will measure 20 feet across and will feature a working cuckoo chirping every quarter hour. It will be powered by solar offsets from panels installed in the Kemper Center for Home Gardening.

Plant material will be changed out seasonally over the course of the temporary display. The summer design features a traditional celestial theme with moon (white, dark purple) and sun (chartreuse-yellow)—look for Hemigraphis, Begonias, Alternanthera and Dichondra. Alternanthera has also been used in the clock’s Roman numerals, and dichondra in the moving clock hands. Spring plantings featured cool-season, low-growing crops, such as pansies (Viola), ornamental kale (Brassica), and alyssum (Lobularia).

Horticulture Supervisor Jon Sweeney and his staff of 10 horticulturists in the north end of the Garden are in charge of design, installation, change-outs, and maintenance of the floral clock. Keeping the clock face defined is labor intensive and will include daily watering, shearing, and fertilizing. Much of the work will be performed on an adjustable, lightweight scaffold custom fit to the dimensions of the clock, which will stand about six feet at its apex.