You’ll find more information on both Flora for Fauna’s current projects and upcoming work here.
Past projects
In October, 2023, Flora for Fauna, a Missouri Botanical Garden master gardener, parents and students of Kol Rinah Congregation Sunday school, located in Clayton, Missouri, planted two each of the native blooming shrubs Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis and Rose Mallow, Hibiscus moscheutos, on the congregation’s grounds at the bottom of a water retention area. Forest ReLeaf of Missouri provided the plants as an in-kind grant, as well as plant tags and culture information. Flora for Fauna provided the compost. This past summer, students, congregants and staff enjoyed the blooms and the pollinators attracted to the flowers. The plants did a great job of absorbing excess rain water directed to the retention area!
Current Projects
Lift for Life Academy
Lift for Life Academy is a Title 1, K-12 charter school with an enrollment of nearly 900 students located at 1920 South 7th Street in St. Louis, for Fall 2025. During the last week of October, 2025, three sites were planted with native plants: The Elementary School now has a Pollinator Garden with species such as Nannyberry, Beautyberry, Purple Poppy Mallow, Little Bluestem, and Purple Coneflowers. The area around the school’s Bus Yard now features Prairie Dropseed, Chokeberry, Aromatic Sumac and other native species. We planted a new, nearly two city block long hedge around the school’s parking lot which includes native Red Bud tree, Arrowwood Viburnum, Deciduous Holly, and Eastern Ninebark. We financed the projects with an in-kind grant of many native Red Bud trees and native shrubs, a $10,000 grant through the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District’s Rainscaping Small Grants Program Grant, and Missouri Department of Conservation Community Conservation Cost Share Funds. Thank you to all of the donors who made this project possible.
Moosylvania Marketing
Moosylvania Marketing, an independent advertising and marketing agency located at 7303 Marietta Avenue in Maplewood, MO, is currently working with us on four native plant gardens on it’s grounds. The first project, completed in June 2024, consists of three native plant gardens planted adjacent to Marshall Road. Moosylvania employees volunteered to help plant the gardens. Check out the fantastic video Moosylvania created below!
In October, 2024, Flora for Fauna assisted Moosylvania with a grant application for funding through the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District’s Small Grants Program to install a fourth native plant garden. Moosylvania received the grant for a native plant garden, which will replace nearly 600 square feet of turf. Since turf grass is not native to Missouri, it provides little, if any, benefits for native pollinators and other little critters essential to supporting the food chain. The garden is scheduled to be installed in April 2025 weather allowing.
ABOUT THE MARSHALL SIDE PROJECT
See it in action!
Plan Details
Plants included in the above design:
2. Bristle-leaved sedge, Carex eburnean
4. Dwarf crested iris, Iris cristata
6. Virginia bluebells, Mertensia virginica
7. New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus
8. Smooth hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens
9. Wild columbine, Aquilegia canadensis
10. Golden ragword, Packera aurea
11. Wild sweet William, Phlox divaricata
12. White-tinged sedge, Carex albicans
13. Indian Pink, Spigelia marilandica
14. Littleflower alumroot, Heuchera parviflora
15. Broad Leaf Goldenrod, Solidago flexicaulis
16. Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana
Plants included in the above design:
1. Redbud, Cercis canadensis
2. Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris
3. Virginia bluebells, Mertensia virginica
4. White-tinged sedge, Carex albicans
5. Broad Leaf Goldenrod, Solidago flexicaulis
6. Wild sweet William, Phlox divaricata
Future Projects
Kol Rinah Congregation
An upcoming project is planned at Kol Rinah Congregation at 7701 Maryland Ave in Clayton, Missouri for late this spring. Flora for Fauna secured funding for this project through the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District’s Small Grants Program. The project is located at Kol Rinah’s interior courtyard. The site has a steep slope and bare ground which has caused erosion and water to enter the building’s basement. The native plants shown below should help stop the erosion. A few blooming native plants will delight the children that attend Kol Rinah’s Early Childhood education program, whose windows look out onto the site.
Miriam School and Learning Center
Flora for Fauna is working with Miriam School and Learning Center, the premier educational hub for children with learning differences in the St. Louis area, to create a sensory garden featuring native flowering plants, grasses, sedges, shrubs, and trees at their high school. Engaging with the natural environment can help reduce stress, anxiety, and help children build emotional resilience. Sensory gardens are valuable resources for children with autism, anxiety disorders, and ADHD. We hope to obtain an in-kind grant of native trees and shrubs from our partner Forest ReLeaf of Missouri. We plan to ask native garden clubs for donations of native plant seedlings. Part of the garden will feature occupational therapy equipment for the students’ use.
Lift for Life Academy
Lift for Life cannot get enough native plants! The school’s co-founder and Executive Director, Marshall Cohen, asked Flora for Fauna to design another small pollinator garden near the school’s new gym to be planted in Spring 2026. We hope to encourage their 5th and 6th grade students to help design and plant the garden while also learning about native plants from Flora for Fauna’s president, Cynthia Boxerman.
