Shaw Nature Reserve

The best place for a flower lover is Shaw Nature Reserve. Whether you’re wanting to walk amongst the flowers, twirl down a pathway, or sit next to your favorite blooms, you’re bound to fall in love with the abundance of flowers that grow here. And if you’re mainly looking for flowers, but want a little more than that, there’s a couple of wood buildings, a brick building, lake, and plenty of woods for more of just a one with nature feel.

Check out my list of the top senior picture locations in St. Louis, MO to get inspired by more locations to have your senior pictures taken.

The Best Part About Shaw Nature Reserve

Whitmire Wildflower Garden is the highlight of Shaw Nature Reserve and for good reason. With its abundance of wildflowers, you’re sure to capture exactly the flower vibe you’re looking for. With the variety of colors and species of flowers, you won’t be disappointed.

The garden is beautifully decorated with logs and rocks throughout the garden. These make for the perfect spots to stand and sit amongst the flowers so you can help preserve them for the next person, while also being surrounded by them. There are also benches and steps along the path that are great for sitting along the edges of the flowers.

Walking down the pathway is also beautiful as you stroll through the midst of flowers. Portions of the path are gravel while others are a paved stone, helping keep that naturalesque feel. The path makes for great walking back and forth photos as you’re surrounded on both sides with flowers.

Featured in the garden are also a few buildings. There’s a large, wooden gazebo that you can view from many angles. You can stand in front of it, sit under it, or lean against the rock wall below it. A small building with a wooden door is also on the property. You can stand in the doorway for some poses or lean up against the door. The 1879 Joseph H. Bascom house is the large, brick building with a small porch that features white polls to lean on or peak around, beautiful benches to sit on, and a white doorway to stand in.

Nearby the garden is also a lake that is great for sitting in the grass or standing in front of. Surrounding the garden are plenty of woods with some trails to walk down to feel surrounded by nature, peak around trees, or squat on the pathway. There’s also plenty of wide-open grasses to twirl around in.

What to Expect Each Season

Spring

With flowers being the highlight of Shaw Nature Reserve, spring is a fantastic time to capture all those wildflower vibes. Having fields of flowers blooming and patches of a variety of flowers growing around Whitmire Wildflower Garden, you’re bound to find not only flowers you love, but be surrounded by them as well. The garden can be a popular spot on the weekends with prom groups taking pictures around April.

Summer

June is peak bloom for the flowers at Whitmire Wildflower Garden, so if you’re looking for a warm day for your senior pictures while being surrounded by flowers and nature, summer is the perfect time to visit. There are also a variety of shady areas from trees and other buildings that can help you get out of the sun for a bit. The woods are also a great, shady area for woodsy and nature senior pictures out of the sun.

Fall

Fall has a different variety of flowers blooming than spring and summer. While flowers are still blooming, there aren’t wide open fields of them, but smaller patches around the garden of select wildflowers. With a large number of trees and forest, you’ll have plenty of fall leaves as well.

Winter

Shaw Nature Reserve is pretty dead during the winter. Not much is really growing. Some tall grasses will still be growing, the lake makes for a great background, and the exterior of the Joseph H. Bascom house is great for incorporating architecture. The amount of nature and forest does create a perfect snowy day backdrop though.

Pricing and Accommodations

Shaw Nature Reserve costs $5 per person. If you have a Botanical Gardens Membership you can get in for free. There are bathrooms located at Whitmire Wildflower Garden just a short distance past the Joseph H. Bascom House.

Hours vary by season and the last entry is 30 minutes before closing:

January - March: 8am - 5pm
April - May: 8am - 7pm
June - August: 8am - 8pm
September: 8am - 7pm
October - December: 8am - 5pm

Address

4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63110

Senior Pictures at Shaw Nature Reserve

Meagan
Shaw Nature Reserve

Meagan wanted flowers for her senior pictures, and that's all she was worried about. So, I delivered flowers. We went to Shaw Nature Reserve and their wildflowers were blooming so well, and the…
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Queeny Park

When you want a mix of flowers, open fields, and nature, with a country and/or vintage architectural vibe, Queeny Park is your one stop location for senior pictures. With three buildings and another piece of architecture along with open grass fields, spring flowers, and a brick pathway, you can easily have a one or two hour session here.

Check out my list of the top senior picture locations in St. Louis, MO to get inspired by more locations to have your senior pictures taken.

The Best Part About Queeny Park

In just a small area, there's plenty to do in Queeny Park. Right off the parking lot is a white building that has a barn resemblance. With its long walkway under an overhang that’s perfect for walking portraits, and barn style doors to lean against, you can easily achieve a more country feel. 

As you leave the white building you'll walk down a brick path that eventually turns into pavement and is lined with flowers galore during late spring through early fall. You can sit along the pathway in front of the flowers or stand behind them for full greenery and blooms. There's even a small, green arboretum with brick steps that makes for a wonderful background in your portraits. 

Across from the path is a wide open, grass field with occasional wildflowers blooming. This is perfect for those wanderlust, one with nature, walking through the tall grass senior pictures. 

Back on the path you'll come up to a 1854 Greek Revival style house that has brick pathways around it, wooden steps leading up to the porch, and a circular staircase on the backside of the building. With all the different features of this building, you'll have plenty of posing options, like sitting on the steps, leaning on railings, walking down the path, or even leaning back against a brick wall.

At the back of the building, you'll find plenty of woods and another, older country style building that's in the weeds, giving off a small abandoned vibe. You can squat in the weeds or even sit on a log. 

What to Expect Each Season

Spring

Flowers will start to bloom along the pathway, and you'll have plenty of tall grasses in the field. Short grass will be green and some of the trees will have beautiful green leaves on them as well. There's even a short tree with some pink flowers by the arboretum. You'll be sure to catch some of the blooming flowers while getting some nature and architectural shots.

Summer

More flowers will be blooming along the pathway and all the plants will have their greenery. While summer may bring out the heat, a lot of the pathway is in the shade from trees and the buildings. There's plenty of spots to try to stay cooler and out of the direct sun. You can easily mix up shade and sun pictures during your session to beat the heat. 

Fall

With Queeny Park being loaded with trees, you won't be short of any fall colors. Mums will also be blooming along the pathway during this time. Between the trees and flowers, your photos will be filled with lots of red, orange, yellow, and purple colors.

Winter

Although you won't have any flowers blooming, you'll still have access to the three buildings, arboretum, and pathway which will all create beautiful backgrounds for your senior pictures. And if you still want a bit of a nature feel, the tall grasses will still be around, even though the rest of the plants are gone for the winter.

Pricing and Accommodations

Queeny Park is completely free and open from dawn to dusk. Restrooms are a little bit of a walk but are just down the hill from the main house.

Address

Queeny Park has two entrances to the park that do not connect to each other by road. The best entrance to go in is at 1675 S. Mason Rd, St. Louis, MO 63131.

Senior Pictures at Queeny Park

Rachel
Queeny Park

With Rachel's love for flowers, nature, and all things vintage, we headed to Queeny Park. With the tall, grassy fields, small blooming flowers, widespread woods, and old…
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Lafayette Park

If you’re looking for a park that has it all, you’ve found it. Sitting on 30-acres Lafayette Park has ponds, woods, two brick buildings, flowers at any time of year, a stone pathway, rod iron fences and gates, and beautiful historic homes that surround the premises. You won’t need to go anywhere else if you take your senior pictures at Lafayette Park, because you can easily spend two-hours here.

Check out my list of the top senior picture locations in St. Louis, MO to get inspired by more locations to have your senior pictures taken.

The Best Part About Lafayette Park

Lafayette Park is fenced off with a beautiful rod iron fence that periodically has large gates. These are perfect to lean on, stand next to, or even sit by. You’ll even be able to get some of the surrounding historic buildings as your background.

The park even has a historic building right on the grounds that’s made of brick with a small garden growing outside that’s filled with flowers and large leaves. The doorway on this building is perfect to stand in, or even take a seat on the steps in front of it for a different perspective. There’s even a brick building with arched windows that stands in the middle of the park. This is perfect for leaning against, writing your graduating year in chalk on one of the bricks and pointing at it, standing in front of, or even sitting on the large steps.

In between the two buildings are two ponds. One pond has a fence around it that’s perfect for leaning back against, or you can go around to the other side and sit on the steps or directly next to the pond. The other pond has lots of shrubbery growing around it, a pathway, and even benches. This gives you a lot of photographic opportunities. There’s even a bridge that goes over the lake that you can stand under.

Go on top of the bridge and you can stand in the middle of it, or you can even sit or lean against the side of it. Lean back on it and you’ll be able to get lots of trees as your background.

Nearby the bridge is a gazebo that’s surrounded by plants. You can lean against the poles on the gazebo, or head down to the side of it where all the plants are for a lovely background.

The park also has plenty of open spaces to get just trees and grass in the background, or you can walk down one of the many paths that go around the park for some fun and different portraits. There’s even a stone pathway that’s surrounded by trees, flowers, and even tall grasses that are perfect to sit in. The stone pathway is great to stand or sit on, and even has stone steps that are perfect to sit on as well. There’s even a bench down the path that is surrounded by greenery, making it a perfect spot for senior pictures.

What to Expect Each Season

Spring

Spring is the best time to head down by the stone pathway. This is the area that grows the most flowers, making it the best spot for portraits with flowers in the background. The trees and grass will also be regaining color, and the weather will be warming up slightly, but not too much that you feel too hot.

Summer

Even though it’s hotter in the summer, Lafayette Park is a very shaded park with all the trees. You’ll still feel warm, but you won’t have the hot sun beating directly on you in majority of the park. Summer also means all of the trees and grass have fully regained their color, and summer flowers are now blooming in the park.

Fall

With trees galore, you'll easily find fall colors here. This also means you’ll find a lot of leaves scattered across the grass and pathways. You can even grab a bunch of them and throw them in the air.

Winter

Lafayette Park is a great place to take senior pictures when it snows. You’ll feel like you’re in a winter wonderland as you traverse through the open spaces of the park. The brick buildings and bridge also make for beautiful, snowy portrait locations.

Pricing and Accommodations

Lafayette Park is somewhat busy and absolutely free. It’s open 7 days a week to the public. There are occasionally weddings that take place. The restrooms are located in a brick building in the center of the park, across from the pond with the water fountain.

Address

2023 Lafayette Ave, St. Louis, MO 63104. This is the best spot to meet up in the park.

Senior Pictures at Lafayette Park

Alyssa
Lafayette Park
Alyssa wanted to go to Lafayette Park for her senior pictures, and she absolutely killed it! From looking stellar to bringing along the perfect props (including her pup), Alyssa was…
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Jadon
Lafayette Park
When Jadon was looking for a place to take his senior pictures, he spotted a photo I had shared with an iron rod fence and that was his selling point. So, we went out to Lafayette Park and…
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Emily
Lafayette Park
For Emily’s session, she wanted to bring along her VW Beetle, take some portraits in a wildflower field, snap some images with her kitty, and spend some time at Lafayette Park. We were able to accomplish just that by taking some of her portraits in…
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