Powell Gardens, Kansas City's botanical garden, is a
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
in
Kingsville, Missouri
Kingsville is a city in west central Johnson County, Missouri, United States. The population was 245 at the 2020 census.
History
Kingsville was platted in 1856. The community was named for General William King, a first settler. A post office ca ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, east of Kansas City. It features 6,000 varieties of plants, with 225,000 plants in seasonal displays, and is open to the public, for a fee, during daylight hours.
The garden dates to 1948, when the land was purchased by George E. Powell, Sr. Since then, the site has been a dairy farm, a Boy Scout camp, an agricultural and natural resource center, and since 1988, a botanical garden.
History
Powell Gardens' history begins in 1948, when George E. Powell, Sr., a prominent Kansas City businessman, acquired the beautiful tract of land that is now Powell Gardens, Kansas City's botanical garden. Mr. Powell had learned firsthand about the sometimes harsh and unpredictable life of farming during his childhood on the family farm. In 1917, he left to pursue a business career in Kansas City. He, along with his son George Powell Jr., and others, took over ownership of Yellow Transit Freight Lines, now YRC Freight, in 1952. Throughout his successful business career, Mr. Powell never lost interest in the lands of Missouri. He and his family and friends enjoyed many weekends on his Johnson County, Missouri, farm.
In 1969, in keeping with his stewardship philosophy, Mr. Powell donated the farm to the Kansas City Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, who used it as a regional camp until 1984. In 1984, with the University of Missouri’s School of Agriculture as a catalyst and partner, the Powell Family Foundation began developing a horticultural and natural resource facility called Powell Center.
As a part of this development, Powell Center retained Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Environmental Planning and Design, the leading U.S. consultants for botanical gardens. The firm recognized that the site would be ideal for development as a botanical garden. In 1988, official ties with the University of Missouri ended and Powell Gardens Inc., a not-for-profit organization, was established. A 19-member board of directors, in which several Powell family members serve, governs Powell Gardens. Friends of Powell Gardens, a separate organization, is made up of more than 5,000 members. Staffing at the gardens fluctuates between 35 employees during off-season and close to 70 in peak season. Powell Gardens is supported through private donations and admission, gift shop and rental revenues.
Gardens
* The Visitor Center and surrounding gardens - The Visitor Center is located at the heart of Powell Gardens’ 970 acres and is home to the Powell Gardens Conservatory which offers seasonal rotating installations and serves as the centerpiece for the surrounding gardens. Designed by architect E. Fay Jones, the Visitor Center offers an inspirational setting for educational classes, events, wedding receptions, the on-site restaurant Cafe Thyme and Perennial Gifts, the garden gift shop.
**Surrounding gardens include: Visitor Center Landscape, Conservatory, Terrace Garden, Conifer Garden, The Dogwood Walk, and The Dennis & Anette Young Magnolia Walk.
*Fountain Garden - Centered between the Visitor Center, the Heartland Harvest Garden and the Conifer Garden, this summertime favorite features a 42-foot diameter interactive water feature, surrounded by panicle hydrangeas, colorful annuals, burgundy ninebarks, and cannas.
*Marlese Lowe Gourley Island Garden– Tiered pools in this garden offer a diverse array of water plants in summer. Featured aquatic plants include waterlilies, lotus, cannas, and papyrus, which fill the pools with texture and movement.
*Pavilion and Meadow – native prairie grasses and flowers, burned each spring.
* Chapel walk and landscape – native
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
- hickory woodland with native woodland wildflowers, including a collection of many varieties of
redbud
''Cercis'' is a genus of about 10 species in the subfamily Cercidoideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to warm temperate regions. It contains small deciduous trees or large shrubs commonly known as redbuds. They are characterised by si ...
tree.
* David T. Beals III Woodland and Stream Garden – azaleas and rhododendrons,
fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...
hosta
''Hosta'' (, syn. ''Funkia'') is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name gibōshi. Hostas are widely cultivated as shade-tolerant foliage plants. The genus is currently placed in the fa ...
butterbur
''Petasites'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, that are commonly referred to as butterburs and coltsfoots.daylilies
A daylily or day lily is a flowering plant in the genus ''Hemerocallis'' , a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae. Despite the common name, it is not in fact a lily. Gardening enthusiasts and horticulturists have long ...
,
daffodil
''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as ''Sternbergia'', ''Ism ...
s,
hibiscus
''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...
, and hardy
aster
Aster or ASTER may refer to:
Biology
* ''Aster'' (genus), a genus of flowering plants
** List of ''Aster'' synonyms, other genera formerly included in ''Aster'' and still called asters in English
* Aster (cell biology), a cellular structure shap ...
s and chrysanthemums, with ornamental grasses, against an evergreen background.
* Byron Shutz Nature Trail – of trail with native and naturalized trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers, including biscuitroot,
draba
''Draba'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, commonly known as whitlow-grasses (though they are not related to the true grasses).
Species
There are over 400 species:
*'' Draba abajoensis'' Windham & Al-Shehbaz
*'' ...
, and prairie-plum.
* Heartland Harvest Garden – Powell Gardens is home to one of the largest edible landscapes in North America. This garden features many fruits and vegetables - some common, and some unfamiliar - and showcases "the journey of food from seed to plate". This garden features a French country style
kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
, greenhouses, a
vineyard
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...
of native and European grapes, quilt gardens of local farm produce, and a youth education garden called the Fun Foods Farm. Also located in this garden is the open-air Missouri Barn, a beautiful structure that is home to concerts, barn dinners and cooking demos throughout the year.
*Memorial Garden - Located next to the Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel, the Memorial Garden’s path meanders through native wildflowers, lofty oaks, and a small native prairie. A trickling fountain attracts birds and butterflies to create a site that is vibrant and full of life.
*Perennial Garden - The Perennial Garden offers more than 1,200 varieties of plants that return year after year. This 3.5-acre landscape is designed as a series of “rooms” separated by trees and shrubs rather than walls.
nondenominational
A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination.
Overview
The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...
wedding chapel that first opened in 1996. It was designed by architect E. Fay Jones and is made of mostly wood and glass.
Each year, the conservatory located in the Visitor Education Center is transformed into a tropical rainforest in order to house spring and summer butterfly exhibits. Blue morpho butterflies are featured along with others, including paper kite butterflies.
Powell Gardens hosts Missouri Barn Dinners every year, beginning in late spring. Held in the Missouri Barn, these dinners feature multi-course meals prepared by local chefs who are able to source many of their ingredients from the Heartland Harvest Garden. This series has featured chefs from notable Kansas City restaurants including República, Lidia's Kansas City, and others.
Powell Gardens hosts special exhibits each summer that are supplemented by a schedule of related special events and activities. Notable exhibits include:
* In 2001, Big Bugs! featured giant, lifelike bug sculptures, 100 times their normal size, scattered across the landscape. It included three ants that weighed 700 pounds each and were 25 feet long. The exhibit also featured a 1,200-pound female
praying mantis
Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...
, a 50-pound spider, and a 100-pound
damselfly
Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...
.
* In 2008, Chapungu - The Great African Sculpture Exhibit, featured 54 monumental stone sculptures. Visitors could watch master stone carvers at work in the gardens, and attend stone carving workshops hosted by the master carvers.