Behind the Scenes of the Anne O’C. Albrecht Nature Playscape with Horticulturalist Hilary Sears

If you spot Forest Park Forever Horticulturalist Hilary Sears rolling down a hill in the Anne O’C. Albrecht Nature Playscape, don’t worry — she’s just doing her job. 

Really. 

Sears leads the team of eight gardeners and a dozen or so volunteers responsible for making the Nature Playscape one of the most beautiful crazy-fun places in the Park, if not the region.  

“The kids who helped us design the Nature Playscape said that one thing they wanted were open areas where they could just play in the grass, so that’s part of what we created,” Sears explains with a smile.

“Of course,” she jokes, “we have to test it out ourselves as professional hill rollers!” 

But when they aren’t installing grass stains on their uniforms, Sears and her team are busy installing plants and envisioning what the Nature Playscape will look like as the fruits—and blooms, and seed pods, and thistles—of their labors mature. 

Altogether, between September 2019 and June 2020, they planted some 40,000 perennial plugs, 700 shrubs, and 400 trees over the Nature Playscape’s 17-acres. Other Forest Park Forever staff even became part of the fun during an outdoor work day. 

And bringing the Nature Playscape to life was a lot of work. Sears and her teammates carefully selected each species to match the site and its nine distinct activity areas. 

“In addition to being an awesome place to play, the Nature Playscape represents the amazing plant diversity of the entire state of Missouri,” Sears says. 

Nature Playscape visitors can enjoy anise-scented hyssops and wild berries in the Sensory Garden. The Mounds area, Meadow and pathways are full of native Missouri perennials. In the Bottomland Forest, Young Forest, and Upland Prairie, nearly 130 newly planted redbud, dogwood, and other ornamental trees thrive alongside their older cousins. Crossing the Gravel Bank and approaching the Wetland and Spring, swamp milkweed and butterfly milkweed delight guests and pollinators. 

“I am very pleased with how well all of these species are getting along in a relatively contained area,” Spears notes. “The plants are already taking off. It’s so exciting to see it all coming together!” 

One of her team’s most unique plantings is in the Mounds. There, dozens of young willow trees have been rooted and joined at their tops to form living tunnels for kids to romp through. The tunnels will only become more magical as the trees grow together. Just a few weeks after the Nature Playscape opened, small feet have already formed paths between the trees.  

“The trail is nice to see, because it means people are really enjoying it and using it,” Sears says. “We don’t want this part of the Park to be all pristine, because then what’s the point of a Nature Playscape?” 

However, elsewhere in the Park Sears and her team are responsible for more traditional plantings. They also plant and maintain nearly 35 additional acres, including the recently installed Moore Meadow, Government Hill, the World’s Fair Pavilion, and the World’s Fair Comfort Station. 

“We planted about 300 new perennials on Government Hill and the new stairs going up it, and 13 new trees around the World’s Fair Comfort Station, which is a great place for Nature Playscape visitors to meet up before they explore,” Sears says. 

In fact, Sears hopes the Nature Playscape will be just the beginning for many people’s explorations of Forest Park—and it’s just getting started. 

“The public loves it, and it is just so special for us when they come by and thank us for our work,” Sears says. “But what’s really fun is to imagine how they might go from here to the new gravel path through the Successional Forest and beyond. 

“It’s been a big effort, not just from my team or for Land Management, but also from the whole organization and the community,” Sears continues. “I feel like this is everybody’s. This belongs to all of St. Louis, and it will entice others to see that we are the best city, and we are the best Park!”