In the middle of a Missouri winter — or any season — the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House keeps a piece of the tropics flying. Inside its soaring glass conservatory in Faust Park, more than a thousand butterflies of some 60 species drift among tropical plants, landing close enough for kids to count their wing beats.
The Butterfly House, a division of the Missouri Botanical Garden, teaches the full metamorphosis story live: chrysalises in the emergence window, caterpillar hosts in the gardens, and educators who can turn a five-year-old into a lepidopterist in one visit. October brings the playful BOOterfly House season with animal encounters on weekends, and the native butterfly garden outside blooms all summer.
It is the gentlest wild place in St. Louis County.
The Butterfly House is at 15050 Faust Park in Chesterfield. Hours at mobot.org/butterfly-house.
