Powell Gardens

“Road Trip for your Soul”

Cheryl Maynard, KC Master Gardener 2002

 

 

Last summer I visited an old high school and still very close friend, Sandy, and her family. Originally from Charleston, she now resides in Parkville,   Missouri, which is just outside Kansas City. Sandy told me when I arrived that she had plans to take me on a day trip to Powell Gardens. What could I say but, “OK.”

 

So, a few days later, we took off for the hour drive to our destination. I was beginning to get worried that we were lost (which would not be the first time) when we were in the middle of Missouri farmland with no sign of civilization in sight.  Then a small sign appeared in the median with an arrow pointing left to Powell Gardens. It was like turning into another world.

 

Powell Gardens is a private, not-for-profit botanical garden. Its mission is to inspire people to appreciate, beautify and conserve our natural environment. The Gardens’ 915 acres support opportunities for learning through a year-round education program, research and special events. The spectacular garden displays are incorporated with contemporary architecture to provide visitors with a peaceful one and a half mile walk through various specialized garden environments. The gardens also have over three miles of nature trails offering visitors a look into the wilder side of the grounds.

 

A history of the gardens dates back to 1948 when George E. Powell, Sr., purchased the land. It has served as a dairy farm, Boy Scout camp, an agricultural and natural resources center and, since 1988, a botanical garden.

 

This is truly an educational center with classes, festivals, music and other events scheduled year-round. And children are never forgotten with various programs to spark imagination and interest. Events such as an Easter Egg Hunt, spring and fall plant sales, Iris Weekend, summer concerts, Booms and Blooms Festival (July 4th celebration), Festival of Butterflies, Harvest Celebration and Spooktacular, Breakfast with Santa and a holiday Luminary Walk are just a small sampling.  

 

The Visitor Education Center welcomes you in to wander through the Grand Hall and Conservatory. It houses numerous meeting rooms for educational classes or to rent for corporate meetings. There is also a gift shop, Perennial Gifts, and the Café Thyme. Terrace beds with seasonal displays surround the Visitor Education Center. On the north side of the building, you can enjoy a healing garden, courtyard garden and butterfly garden.

 

As you start your journey past the terraced beds the trail leads under tall shade trees to the Island Garden. It contains a two-acre pond featuring a three-pool water garden. It is the largest water garden in the Midwest. The ponds contain more than 100 water plants, both native and exotic. The Island Garden contains 800 varieties of plants with viewing piers and an arbor which offers beautiful views. All this will lead you to the “living wall.”  This spectacular wall is the longest in the United States and the second largest in the world. The wall is constructed of regional limestone with an array of rock plants from around the globe. They are even color-coordinated to blend with various garden themes.

 

After passing the Island Garden, there is a fork in the path. The path to the left takes you to the Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel. This nondenominational chapel provides sacred space for visitors of all backgrounds. Once inside, the wood patterns seem to make light and shadows move.  Geometric diamonds in the ceiling are made of interlocking wood bracing.  The diamonds seem to grow and shrink as you pass underneath.

 

Traveling back to the fork, the right path leads you through the Rock and Waterfall Garden. This woodland area has two cascading streams, waterfalls, shade-loving plants and alcoves to rest and take it all in. In May, more than 700 azaleas bloom along with rhododendron.

 

Emerging from the shade of the Rock and Waterfall Garden you find yourself in the Perennial Garden. This three-acre garden displays 1,200 cultivars with various theme sections and staggered bloom times. Around Independence Day 350 varieties of daylilies reach their peak bloom. A lakeside arbor presents another shady place to rest and enjoy the view.

 

Once leaving the Perennial Garden, you have the option to either take the path back to the Visitor Center or treat your feet to a trolley ride.  Powell Gardens is a hard place to say good-bye to. There’s a feeling of wanting to walk through the grounds again to see everything you missed the first time.

 

New for 2005, Powell Gardens is planning a new Heartland Harvest Garden. It will encompass 12-acres and will display agricultural processes featuring orchards, field crops, vegetables and food plants from around the world.  It will be the only garden of its kind in the United States.  The theme of the new garden will be “from seed to plate” and will teach you where food comes from and how it’s grown. There will even be a demonstration kitchen to illustrate how to     prepare certain foods.

 

 

 

For more information contact Powell Gardens at 816-697-2600 or 816-697-2619 (fax) or visit their website, www.powellgardens.org. Their mailing address is 1609 NW HWY 50, Kingsville, MO 64061. Admission is $7.00 for adults, $6.00 for senior citizens, and $3.00 for children ages 5-12 from April through October. There are other admission prices for November through March and for festivals.