Author: Renee Hughes 2

The Major Lee Berra Creation Station

Posted on by Renee Hughes 2
Creation Station is now
The Major Lee Berra Creation Station

Lee Berra grew up less than a mile from The National Museum of Transportation, which he referred to as the “old fashioned train station.” He loved his family, friends, country and all things transportation – especially planes and trains. He got his pilot’s license at age 16. 

Lee was commissioned into the United States Air Force in 2006 and spent a decade in the military. He flew 2,566 military flight hours in 30 different aircraft with 2,270 of those hours in the supersonic B-1 Lancer. 

When Lee returned for visits to St. Louis, he always took his wife, Sydney, to the 
“old fashioned train station” and told her that someday they would bring their kids to the Museum. Lee would be honored to be part of the Museum and the Creation Station.
Major Lee Berra – March 7, 1984 – January 25, 2017

Virgin Hyperloop Pegasus Pod at TNMOT!

Posted on by Renee Hughes 2

Tomorrow’s transportation has arrived at The National Museum of Transportation (TNMOT).  Direct from the Smithsonian Institution’s Futures Exhibit, The Virgin Hyperloop is now on display at TNMOT. Be among the first to marvel at Virgin Hyperloop’s Pegasus pod.

With speeds of up to 670 miles per hour, Hyperloop could be the first potential leap forward in mobility in a century. In late 2020 Virgin Hyperloop made it one step closer to reality, and made global headlines, when its first passengers completed a successful trial run of a technology that has long been a staple of science fiction. Distances that once took months to travel, and now take hours, will require just minutes. Like all precious resources, time is worth saving.

In February 2022, Virgin Hyperloop announced it was refocusing its efforts from a mass transportation system to a cargo system, in response to the challenges of the global supply chain. It’s a good reminder that the future moves fast, and changes often.

Encounter the Pegasus in full 360 degrees, peer inside its Bjarke Ingels-designed futuristic interior, and learn more about the technology that can transport cargo and eventually people at airline speeds with zero direct emissions—all enabled by a magnetic levitation system in a near vacuum. The Virgin Hyperloop Pegasus is on display at the Museum in The William R. and Laura Rand Orthwein Education & Visitor Center, address 2933 Barrett Station Road, St. Louis, MO  63122.  The Museum is open Wednesday-Sunday from 9 am – 4 pm.  To view the video displaying the Virgin Hyperloop in operation, go here.

The Major Lee Berra Creation Station

Posted on by Renee Hughes 2

The National Museum of Transportation is pleased to acknowledge the naming of our Creation Station after Major Lee Berra at the request of his family. Honoring Major Berra’s memory and in particular his enjoyment of TNMOT’s Creation Station is a treasure to be shared in the renaming of one our favorite children’s venues at the Museum. Thank you to the Berra family for this opportunity and for Major Berra’s service.

Bloom and Groom Series – Swamp Milkweed Featured

Posted on by Renee Hughes 2


Bloom Report
August 28, 2022

By MaryAnn Fink/ The Native Explorer contributor/ Pollinator Junction/ Museum of Transportation   

Just a few pollinator food flowers are blooming at the Museum of Transportation’s Pollinator Junction.

Now Showing:

Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepia incarnata)
Sweet Coneflower (Rudbeckia subtomentosa)
Ornamental Onion (Allium stellatum)
Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)
Thistle (Cirsium discolor)
Wild blue Sage (Salvia azurea)

Featured Bloom: Swamp Milkweed  (Asclepia incarnata)

Swamp milkweed is an easy to grow Missouri native perennial with smooth, sometimes lanky, stalks that remain fairly flexible. 

I love the way she can be both nimble and strong. She is able to carefully balance bouquets of complicated dusty rose pink flower clusters that are lightly scented near and at the very tip of her tippy top. (Sometimes she dresses in the white flowering form).

Her milky bundle of straw-like stems group together nicely enough that she requires minimal shoulder room and can fill a narrower place than her height suggests.

Keep in mind this milkweed likes moisture so be sure there is consistent moisture at her feet as she is likely to fade away if she is overly thirsty all the time!

Her flowering is well timed for the enjoyment of an assortment of butterflies but especially Monarchs who use her narrow willowy foliage for baby food.

Nectar is served from mid-summer until fall to butterflies and bumble bees. Various other insects are attracted as well. Fairy sized silky “seed carrying” parachutes form at season’s end making her very fun entertainment in any garden!

There are several patches growing and profusely flowering now at Pollinator Junction!

Partridge pea / Chamaechrista fasciculate

Posted on by Renee Hughes 2

Growing For Life /Feed Your Butterfly

By MaryAnn Fink/ The Native Explorer contributor/ Pollinator Junction/ Museum of Transportation 

Copyright August /2022

This colorful mid-summer flowering annual is a native of Missouri. He is also a nitrogen fixing legume like all members of the bean family which means he is good at managing his own growing needs and possibly helps out his neighbors as well!

His golden flowers are beautiful as is his fine textured mimosa-like foliage!

His eye catching blossoms rest in the leaf axils that spiral around every stalk. This ascending spiral of sequential blossoms seems to coincide with the rising summer heat. It is as if the partridge pea is a visual for the major musical scale being played by Nature as the season peaks-I can almost hear it-can’t you?

Ever so softly, do re mi fa so la ti Do!- the high note is reached as the season peaks!

Each of his blooms are marked in the center with a fleck of crimson- is this a flower with heart and feelings? Well that is a stretch, but the feathery leaves do look like those of sensitive plant. He reacts to touch as well, that is more than I can say about some folks I’ve met!

This touchy native is quite visible right now at the Museum of Transportation’s Pollinator Junction.  He is also found growing wild along some roadsides and many newly planted prairies. He is comfortable with disturbed soil situations.

He attracts many types of bees and butterflies. The caterpillars of several Sulfur butterflies feed on his foliage, including Eurema lisa (Little Sulfur), Eurema nicippe (Sleepy Orange), and Phoebis sennae cubule (Cloudless Sulfur). Other likely visitors include honeybees, bumblebees, Miner bees, and large leaf-cutter bees, Halictine bees, wasps, flies, and ants! Later the pea pods will attract song and game birds, even quail!

Partridge pea is considered an excellent choice for erosion control; He is fast at establishing his root system, even on poor quality bare ground. He creates a 2” blanket of seedlings quickly that sprout into 24-30″ bouquets of flowers that can stabilize eroding soil and fix nitrogen.

He takes the heat just fine, preferring full sun and average to dry soil. He does not appreciate competition from other plants.
 

Partridge Pea is easy to grow and spreads readily when given plenty of elbow room, especially in dry, open situations. He is not reliably sustainable in crowded conditions and his population can fluctuate considerably from year to year. He might leave or significantly reduce his population when aggressive natives are not kept in check.

This native needs his bed kept open in the spring, free of weeds and native aggressors. He appreciates a gentle hand with turning / hoeing the soil lightly-do this in April. Become familiar with this annual’s seedling appearance and watch for it! Don’t be afraid of heavy sprouting and dense new growth as he competes well with himself-it is just the bullies he wants to avoid. He will gradually disappear without regular maintenance!

Although he is an annual plant that does dies off in the winter, he leave his mass of wire-like roots as stabilizers of the soil. It is best to leave his stalks in place during the winter for wildlife cover. These stalks will also act as breakers to defuse the earliest spring rains and allows the seeds to drop naturally at the perfect time. The rain helps the seeds redistribute annually to any open ground and restart the process again. Nitrogen fixation is greatest when he is at his flowering peak.

Here are some good websites that tell more about this annual favorite:
http://www.nearctica.com/butter/plate5/Elisa.htm
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/part_peax.htm
http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/doc/pg_chfa2.doc
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=chfa2
http://www.nearctica.com/butter/plate5/Elisa.htm
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/part_peax.htmhttp://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=chfa2

Bloom and Groom Series

Posted on by Renee Hughes 2

August 15th 2022

By MaryAnn Fink/ The Native Explorer contributor/ Pollinator Junction/ Museum of Transportation  

Just a few pollinator food flowers now blooming at the Museum of Transportation’s Pollinator Junction.

It is finally happening-the lovely cluster of several clumps of ‘Iron Butterfly’ ironweed has started blooming!!!!!!

This ironweed is an Arkansas native selection that displays a strong yet airy soft threadlike foliage that serves as a nice feathery “I can stand alone” perennial. He also blends well with medium textured foliage and is a striking contrast when paired with bold coarse textures or the straight vertical lines of grasses. He is a favorite flower friend I look forward to every year!

The Rose Mallow is blooming too! She loves wet feet!  Look for her beautifully positioned at the creek’s edge at  Pollinator Junction.

Sometimes in the early part of the morning just as the Hibiscus flowers first start to open it reminds me of old time embroidery stitching of side views of ladies in bonnets but so MUCH  prettier. The flowers are 4-6″ across–these are HUGE!

And have I mentioned Joe Pye Weed is  blooming too? (Yes I did, on the radio on Saturday during the 550 KTRS Inside Out Show!)

More on Joe Pye soon–in the meantime come visit Pollinator Junction at The Museum of Transportation!

Nature Library and Reading Nook

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Landscaping updates from Tessa Wasserman, a Master Gardener at our Museum, highlight the kid-friendly additions behind our Pollinator Junction, including the work by Bob L. who erected a post for the nature library and reading nook, a new path to the mini train depot, and some visitors taking advantage of the library box!

Tessa’s volunteers helped erect an apple tree toss game, corn hole toss, and an obstacle course.

Dave Behlmann donated time and funds to stock the nature library. Visitors to TNMOT are already using the new area–so much fun!

If you would like to contact The National Museum of Transportation Guest Services to ask about these particular additions or to make other general inquiries about the Museum, please call us at our 314.965.6212 phone number.

Bloom and Groom Series Rattlesnake Master ( Eryngium yuccifolium)

Posted on by Renee Hughes 2

By MaryAnn Fink/ The Native Explorer contributor/ Pollinator Junction/ Museum of Transportation 

Copyright July /2022

Rattlesnake Master ( Eryngium yuccifolium)

White velcro balls are staged artfully and  sporadically along the upper most tip of sturdy staffs of this rough and tough Missouri native.

This is a good natured guy but the flower balls on sticks and his unfriendly looking pointy stiff green leaves send a very different message. Perhaps he’s just rigid looking because he’s trying to be formal and austere looking but sometimes it comes across as just mean looking. That is until you see him happily feeding those hungry butterflies and various other pollinators! At least his stand-offish looks help him avoid being deer lunch except for the occasional nibble.  He is likely to survive long enough and be plentiful enough to “bee” enjoyed indoor, too, as a great cut flower! 

His preference is for moist to dry soil in a sunny location. Too much shade will cause him to lose his balance and put his typically upright flowers shafts at risk to dipping into the dirt. He is not one to like a sloppy lazy prone position!

He belongs to the rather informal carrot crowd. However, nothing is typical carrot-like above ground but this tough guy does have a significant taproot!

This handsome native is located in a few places at the Museum of Transportation including Pollinator Junction. But my favorite combination is at the entrance in the median where there are so many native companion plants including beautiful liatris! There are pollinators galore to welcome visitors!

As a side note-there is nothing about Rattlesnake Master in my research that makes me think this is an effective remedy for treating the bites from rattlesnakes!

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ERYU