Winter Landscape Tips

It is the season to enjoy the beauty of evergreens and other plants with winter interest. Powell Gardens with its 7,000 varieties of permanent plants on display, offers a good place to see a inordinate variety of plants in the landscape.
The evergreen spires are Green Giant Arborvitae (Thuja 'Green Giant') and look rich green and boldly textured.

Backlit in our winter sun, the same grove of Green Giant Arborvitae looks dark and ominous! Evergreen trees including the Green Giant Arborvitaes are best sited in the landscape where they will break the prevailing winter winds. That means planting them north and west of your home, the perfect setting to view them from in winter. They also diminish the wind on your home which can cut heating bills by between 10 and 25%!!! Planting evergreens on the south side of your house means you will see what is depicted here and they will block the wonderful, warming winter sun. The shadows of evergreens can create winter patches of snow and ice that can be a nuisance on walks and driveways.

A very few evergreens look at their best when backlit in the winter. The Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra) is one such plant that simply sparkles when backlit in the winter sun. Inkberry Holly is a medium to large shrub and makes a wonderful natural winter screen but doesn't get tall enough to block the sun to most home's windows. This shrub is often used as an American native substitute for boxwood but it never stays that dense and opens up into a more free form as it ages. Use boxwood for formal hedging and tidy evergreens, not Inkberry.

Now that we have had two arctic outbreaks, it's nice to stay indoors and look outside at the landscape that surrounds you and think about plant/landscape additions for next spring. Looking out the Horticulture Building's southwest window we see a Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus) which is the perfect plant for this location. A shade tree at the southwest corner of your home will help shade your home during the hottest sun of summer. Air temperatures under a shade tree are as much as 18F cooler. Shade trees are 24/7 living air conditioners that also absorb carbon dioxide, dust and other particulates (asthma rates for children fall by a quarter in areas of high tree population) and release oxygen as a biproduct of photosynthesis.

The shadow of the Kentucky Coffeetree on the Horticulture Building also demonstrates why Coffeetree is such a ideal building shade tree. The plant is very open in the winter and allows maximum sunlight to penetrate now -- warming the building! Choose sturdy shade trees with open crowns and coarse root systems that won't invade utilities. Other good examples include Bur, Chinkapin, Post, Northern Red and Shumard Oaks, Baldcypress and Cucumber Magnolia. Bad choices would be Silver Maple, Cottonwood and Sweetgum.

A view out my screened office window shows the Possumhaws (Ilex decidua) cloaked in vibrant red berries. Everyone who comes to visit is immediately drawn to these vibrant trees in the winter landscape. Not only do they provide an invigorating warm color in the landscape now but they attract wildlife that provides drama in the landscape. This is the winter larder of a possesive mockingbird while robins, bluebirds and waxwings will come in to feed on occasion too.

Other deciduous hollies like this grove of Sparkleberry Hollies (Ilex 'Sparkleberry') in the Perennial Garden equal possumhaw for vibrant color in the winter landscape. We did not experience below zero temperatures here so the colors have remained vibrant. Choose Red Sprite Winterberry as the smallest deciduous holly maturing at 5 feet to Winter Red and Sparkleberry which reach about 8 feet in height. Possumhaws eventually become small trees so plan on them reaching 20 feet in height or more over a long period of time. Remember only the female plants have these beautiful berries and an appropriate male cultivar is needed nearby for pollination. Sparkleberry holly requires 'Apollo' or 'Southern Gentleman' holly as a pollinator.

A view across the parking lot to the Maintenance area reveals well placed evergreen shrubs and ornamental grasses. These effectively screen the view at almost all seasons though the grass is cut back in spring but quickly fills in by early summer. The shrubs are Leatherleaf Viburnums (Viburnum x rhitidophylloides) and the grasses are maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis). Take a look out all your windows now and if there are any unsightly views, plant a screen for them next spring!

A walk through the Powell Gardens perennial garden reveals a great balance of all types of plants from groundcovers to deciduous and evergreen shrubs and trees. A diversity of plant forms and their proper placement really does create a most inviting landscape. Don't experience cabin fever and plan a winter visit to Powell Gardens to observe all the subtle beauty of winter and get ideas that will enrich your home landscape.

Powell Gardens' Plants for a Midsummer's Evening Garden

Midsummer evenings are a time when many of us sit outdoors and enjoy our gardens. Plants with white flowers or otherwise reflective (often bluish or golden) and variegated foliage really stands out as the light fades. Gardens themed around such plants are often called Evening Gardens. If you have participated in any of our Fridays at the Fountains (or Full Moon Fridays in 2008) you had the chance to see Powell Gardens in the evening on a guided tour.
Becky Shasta Daisies (Leucanthemum x maximum 'Becky') are a classic midsummer white flower. Ask anyone to name 5 flowers and "daisy" is likely to be one of the five! Becky Daisy is our best choice for a daisy in our climate as it is stout (doesn't flop) and is heat tolerant (a trait not needed so far this year but needed here MOST years).
The tall and little known Hungarian Daisy (Chrysanthemum serotinum) also does well in our climate and a good choice for the back of a border. Look for this perennial in the Perennial Garden and now in the Heartland Harvest Garden vineyard.

White Swan Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan') (or other white-flowering cultivars) also are stellar performing garden perennials for us. The flower's cones give a nice contrast of color so that a white garden doesn't look flat. Even a stray seedling in typical purple coneflower adds a nice depth to a planting (as in the image). Look for these in the Perennial Garden and below the north wall of the Visitor Center.

David Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata 'David') is a stellar cultivar of phlox that is mildew resistant and a long bloomer (a past perennial plant of the year). The softly fragrant white flowers simply glow in the evening. White-flowering Gentle Shepherd daylilies add to the composition in the image and are another good midsummer evening perennial. Look for David Phlox in the Perennial Garden.

The unique globe-like flower heads atop open stems of the locally native wildflower Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) are a very underutilized white-flowering perennial. Rattlesnake Master is now a Plant of Merit (www.plantsofmerit.org) so is a star performer across Missouri. You can see Rattlesnake Mater growing wild along our entrance drive and along our Nature Trail; and planted in the parking lot, Fountain and Perennial Gardens.

This perennial needs a person standing next to it to show how big it is! This is a mature clump of Bartered Bride Joe Pye-weed (Eupatorium maculatum). It is in the Perennial Garden at the back of the white border and is 6 feet tall. This white-flowering cultivar of Joe Pye is a great performer and also attracts many interesting beneficial insects.

Another large, bold perennial is Kopper King Hibiscus or Rose Mallow (a hardy native Hibiscus hybrid). The bronzed foliage and pink "eye" of the flowers really can add contrast and depth to a planting of white flowering plants. Look for this plant in the white border of the Perennial Garden and at the entrance to the Island Garden.

Casa Blanca Lily (Oriental Lilium hybrid) is a classic evening plant because this flower also is incredibly fragrant, especially in the evening. There are two large clumps of this lily in bloom at the beginning of the dogwood walk outside the Visitor Center.

This Garden Party Oriental Lily is a good evening garden choice with yellow-banded, freckled white flowers of intense fragrance. Look for it in the Perennial Garden.

Some of our containter greenhouse plants get set out for the summer to really show their ornamental attributes. These large (4" across) white flowers are on our Night-blooming Cereus cactus and can be seen in the cactus bed out the north ramp of the Visitor Center. If you visit in the morning the flowers will still be open.

Many plants have ideal foliage now with waxy surfaces that make them look bluish. White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba) is a native prairie plant that, though it has tall spikes of white flowers in early summer, still has appropriate foliage for an evening garden now. The light green seed pods are also quite beautiful and they will turn black by fall and be good for interest in the winter season. This White Wild Indigo is next to the blue border in the Perennial Garden but can also be seen in the Perennial Garden's prairie border, in our main meadow and growing wild along the Nature Trail.

Variegated Ornamental Grasses are always stunning in evening light. Here Variegated Giant Reed (Arundo donax 'Variegata') and Variegated Miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis cultivar) rise above and beyond white-flowering purple coneflowers and white-flowering daylilies in the Perennial Garden. Both Giant reed and miscanthus are considered invasive weeds in the southwestern and southern parts of the United States but these never self sow here.

There are many great flowering shrubs that make excellent backdrops and screens around evening gardens: Here is Limelight Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight') with its classic lime colored flower buds that do open to pure white and then fade to pinks as they age. Look for Limelight Hydrangea is several locations at Powell Gardens: around the Fountain Garden, in the Perennial Garden and in a large shrub border near the Rock & Waterfall trolley stop.

Pink Diamond Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata 'Pink Diamond') is another great beauty in full bloom in the Perennial and Island Gardens. Its flower heads gradually age to pink and you can already see a hint of pink in the flowers.

The Swan Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) is another good cultivar with huge white sterile florets (2" across -- huge for a hydrangea!). This flower is about a foot long. All Hydrangea paniculata cultivars do well here in full sun and can be allowed to become large shrubs if you want. They all bloom on new wood so you can also cut them back or even to the ground if need be and they bloom on new growth the first season! Look for this shrub in the white border of the Perennial Garden.

Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) with its whitish-blue leaf undersides also looks good in an evening garden now. There are occasionally a few of its flowers still open although its peak bloom is in early summer. Small trees help make intimate spaces in a evening garden setting and sweetbay is one of the best choices. Sweetbays are planted throughout Powell Gardens: from around the Visitor Center to Island, Rock & Waterfall and Perennial Gardens.

Several evergreens are also a good choice in evening gardens and the tapestry hedge in the Perennial Garden shows 3 of the best! Here the lime-gold foliage of Berkmann's Golden Oriental Arborvitae (Platycladus orientalis), green with nicely contrasting light blue "berries" on the middle Emerald Sentinel Juniper (Juniperus virginiana) and the Blue Juniper (Juniperus virginiana 'Glauca') create a rich composition at all seasons. Yep the two cultivars of juniper in this hedge are just selections of our native Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) -- one of the toughest evergreens for our climate.

No matter what your interest in gardening and plants may be, Powell Gardens displays some plants that interest you! We exceeded 15,000 accessions (cataloged plant acquisitions) this spring and we never accession annuals so nearly 8,000 varieties of plants are now on display at the Gardens. From food plants in the Heartland Harvest Garden, to annuals and tropicals around the Visitor Center, water and rock plants on the Island Garden, shade-loving plants in the Rock & Waterfall Garden and all sorts of perennials in the Perennial Garden, there are surely some ideas in store for your gardening endeavors.

Redbuds in the Powell Gardens Landscape

Eastern Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) have been in glorious bloom from Powell Gardens' Gatehouse through the gardens and into its wildlands. Here is a planting off to the side of the Gatehouse where some flowering dogwoods (in white) set them off. We planted redbuds at the gatehouse landscape as they are such a great choice for beauty through the seasons and a native plant that reflects our spirit of place.


Redbuds adorn the front of the Visitor Center; someday they will arch over and shade the walks from the parking lot to the building. There are a few whitebuds planted to give a bit of sparkle and depth to the planting. They are naturally an understory (small) tree doing well at the edge of a woods but give a nice "human scale" to a landscape. They set off the huge presettlement trees of shagbark hickory (center in the above image) and Swamp White Oak (right) along with a middle aged Pin Oak (left).


Redbuds are often multi-trunked and the trunks often recline with age. Each tree develops a distinct form so I think of them as living sculptures. If you like lollipop trees, then the redbud is not a good choice for you. It is also not a good choice for restricted spaces. Redbuds are about as long-lived as us and can be rejuvenated by removing old trunks and allowing basal sprouts to replace them. They are short-lived because they are partially pioneer species. They colonize old fields and disturbed areas and become a nurse plant to future trees that eventually grow up and shade them out. Rebuds bloom best in full sun but will be OK in light shade with a lighter bloom.


Redbud trunks are a work of art always covered with blue-gray and chartreuse lichens and throwing off a few clusters of flowers to boot! The lichens cause no harm and are epiphytic; remember Alice algae and Freddy fungus to a lichen to each other in this organism of two. At the base of a redbud trunk the old bark flakes off to reveal maroonish inner bark.


Redbud trunks often become gnarled and hollow. Again, think living sculpture with redbud!


Here redbuds are a good companion to a Wildgoose Plum (Prunus munsoniana) just past the Gatehouse.


Redbuds are often wild companions with Redcedars (Juniperus virginiana), which set off their blooms to a tee. This composition is near the Gatehouse.


Oklahoma Redbud is a selection from a more southerly subspecies (or species?) of redbud (Cercis canadensis ssp. reniformis). Oklahoma Redbud is slightly later blooming with rosier flowers, glossier leaves and has a more upright, compact stature. It is a better choice for boulevards and other restricted spaces. Oklahoma Redbud is actually a cloned cultivar selected from the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma but has proved hardy to the Greater Kansas City area.


Powell Gardens has an extensive collection of redbuds from around the world. This is the only known hardy selection of Chinese Redbud (Cercis chinensis 'Ames') from the North Central Experiment Station in Ames, Iowa. You can view them at the Visitor Center trolley stop. It is a large shrub with earlier blooming, rosy flowers. It is not available at nurseries, which carry the selections 'Avondale' and 'Don Egolf'. Both of these are hardy to only -10F. If we have a cold winter like in decades past, they will be killed to the ground.

Here is the rare Afghan Redbud (Cercis griffithii) from Afghanistan. It has flowers almost the color of our native redbud and you can see it at the south end of the Visitor Center. It is also not hardy below -10F but we have not had weather that cold in more than a decade.

Powell Gardens, melding native and exotic plants

Powell Gardens is a unique marriage of native and exotic plants. I took this picture yesterday because it is such an interesting composition. The drifts of planted, non-native daffodils (Narcissus spp.) are showy and beautiful but they are woven into the native grasses and other native plants. No native plant dares have such large flowers this early. The small tree center left is a native redbud (Cercis canadensis) and usually one of our first showy flowering native plants. It's not yet in flower though it was flowering by now for the prior 11 springs. The evergreen is a wild seedling of Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and the tree overhead is a Post Oak (Quercus stellata) with a few marcesant leaves still clinging to its lower branches.
We weave in non-invasive exotic plants to enhance the aesthetic experience of Powell Gardens but keep the natives as the warp and weft to celebrate our spirit of place. Without the native plant "bones" to the garden, we would look like anywhere in the world. In late summer (with the daffodils dormant) this image will show no exotics with billowing native grasses, wild sunflowers, goldenrods and asters.


The cool spring of 2008 has made many of the bulbs look like the images in the catalogs for a change (Most bulbs are Dutch grown where the maritime springs are much cooler). Ice Follies Daffodil (shown) has a creamy to yellow center, but in our more typical warmer springs the flower are never as yellow and just look creamy white. Daffodils are a reliable, deer resistant showy flower for spring. Their clumps persist and can naturally multiply into extensive drifts. They do not self-sow or become invasive. They are true spring ephemerals and go completely dormant by midsummer.


Blues are one of my favorite flowers and the native blue-flowering plants are not yet in flower. Here deep blue 'Delft Blue' Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) and Grape Hyacinths (Muscari armeniaca) put on a show in the west seating area of the Island Garden. The color theme for this space is quiet contrasts between blue and scarlet. If you visit you will see the scarlet Tulip praestans 'Fusilier' which provides the contrast. Shortly, native Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata) and Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) will be the natives providing the blue color to this planting.


Forsythias are as flamboyant as ever this spring. New hybrids of these often ubiquitous shrubs have really made them more interesting landscape plants. This is the newer cultivar 'Gold Tide' which is a low grower and Plant of Merit (green sign depicted). Look for our planting near the Visitor Center trolley stop. Forsythia's flower power in early spring make them dear to many with spring fever. They are mostly sterile hybrids and pose no threat of escaping to natural areas.

Our native Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica) is also in bloom now with yellow flowers but the flowers are tiny and not so showy. Fragrant sumac's flowers are nectar rich however and are important early nectar source for many insects. Fragrant sumac is a better plant than forsythia through the seasons with striking red, fuzzy berries against its lush green foliage in summer, and vibrant orange to scarlet fall color. Fragrant sumac will never outsell Forsythia because gardeners are apt to buy their plants in spring, not thinking through the whole seasons and what a plant has to offer the landscape. Fragrant Sumac can be seen in the parking lot (where we only display plants native to Kansas and Missouri), Island Garden and Perennial Garden. Drifts of wild fragrant sumac can be seen on the Nature Trail.

Elegant Silvers in Winter Perennials

This photo from the Island Garden depicts three of the finest perennials with elegant silver foliage in the winter landscape. They are growing in the living wall: Santolina Santolina chamaecyparissus (foreground), Silver Frost Lavender Lavandula 'Silver Frost' (middle plant) and Dwarf Horehound Ballota pseudocictamnus 'Nana' behind. Each has a different subtle shade and unique texture so they create quite a pleasant composition when grown together. All need full sun and good drainage! Our most successful santolinas originated from a special zone 5 hardy strain from High Country Gardens http://www.highcountrygardens.com/ in Santa Fe, NM. The Silver Frost Lavender is another specialty plant from High Country Gardens. Dwarf Horehound is more readily available.


Here is a closeup of a young Silver Frost Lavender in the living wall. No other lavender is so silvery!


The rare Partridge Feather or Silver Feather Tansy Tanacetum densum ssp. amanum has some of the most beautifully textured foliage of any plant at Powell Gardens. We trialed it from Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery http://www.siskiyourareplantnursery.com/ in Talent, Ore. It has been successful in a place of good air circulation in the living wall for years!


The evergreen, needle-like tuft of foliage of Firewitch Dianthus Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Feuerhexe' make it an outstanding plant when not in bloom. In late spring it is covered with vivid fuchsia flowers. It was Perennial Plant of the Year in 2006 and is now a Plant of Merit for our region.


The silvered, purple leaves of Regina Coralbells Heuchera 'Regina' are some of the best for hardiness and durability! This coralbell has staying power and its "evergreen" leaves are beautifully contrasted when grown among Angelina Sedum Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' as can be seen growing on the Island Garden.

Read the book Elegant Silvers by Jo Ann Gardner and Karen Bussolini (Timber Press 2005) for more ideas with silver plants.

All photos were taken by Alan Branhagen in January 2008 at Powell Gardens.

More "Evergreens" to see at Powell Gardens

Lacebark Pine (Pinus bungeana)
Lacebark Pine is a very hardy pine from Northern China. It is a "bushier" pine with healthy green needles at all seasons but develops some of the most beautiful bark of any plant with age. Our plants are 10 years old and over 15 feet tall. They are just starting to get exfoliating bark if your peer in between their lower branches. This is definately a pine you want to have as many branches low to the ground as possible because one day those will form the multi-branched show of beautiful bark. (Note we have NOT pruned ours up) Someday these plants will be spectacular trees at the northeast corner of the Visitor Center. I cannot say it enough how important it is to plant trees that future generations will enjoy!


'Santa Rosa' Sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana var. australis)
Powell Gardens has one of the finest collections of magnolias outside the coasts! We have most of the cultivars of sweetbay and this one ('Santa Rosa') is our most evergreen. Santa Rosa is listed as hardy in zone 7 or zone 5 depending on your resource. The cultivar was selected from northern Florida but many plants from there have proven hardy while others not so. So far our plant has weathered -9F so is at least zone 6 hardy. Sweetbays are vulnerable to cold if they are dry and are much hardier if grown where they have wet feet. They make a great rain garden plant. Walk around the Visitor Center and you will see other cultivars -- our Santa Rosa sweetbay can be seen on the north side of the Visitor Center. Come back in late spring (usually late May) to smell its namesake flowers!


'Vintage Gold' Chamaecyparis or Sawara False Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera)
Vintage Gold Chamaecyparis has some of the most beautiful golden sprays of foliage you can grow here. It is a difficult to find conifer but we will sell small starts of it at our annual spring plant sale the first weekend in May. This Chamaecyparis is reliably hardy into zone 4 (Minnesota) and is heat tolerant too. Look for our plants on the east, overlook side of the Fountain Garden where they are used in a tapestry planting with other shrubs and perennials. They would become a small tree if unpruned but we will shear ours so that they remain shrubs. Deer love this plant and they end up shearing it for us in winter.


'Hazel Smith' Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
Marvin Snyder, past president of the American Conifer Society, gave us a small start of this -- the supposed hardiest cultivar of the giant sequoia. I didn't think it would survive but planted it in the sheltered space east of the Visitor Center. It has thrived and grown 2-3 feet per year! It has beautiful blue-green needles and a strongly pyramidal form. The base of the trunk is already gaining considerable caliper. Come back in 3,000 years and see if it rivals its brethren in the California Sierras. It is considered the largest species of tree on earth.


'Cannaertii' Juniper or Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana)
The Cannaertii Juniper is a selection of our native Eastern Redcedar from Kansas. It is grown for its striking form and the fact that its needles remain dark green in winter instead of turning reddish like most of its wild siblings. It is a female cultivar and is heavily studded with blue, berry-like cones in fall and winter. It is a premier bird attracting tree as its "berries" are eaten by many species of birds including: Cedar Waxwing (see Linda Williams' photo from these very trees in this blog), Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. Our trees are located between the parking lot and the Visitor Center.


'Foxtail' Blue Spruce (Picea pungens)
Foxtail Blue Spruce is one of the bluest of blue spruces and has begun to grow very fast for us. This tree is south of the Rock & Waterfall trolley stop. Blue Spruce does very well for us and is the state tree of Utah and Colorado. In our humid climate it likes to grow in the open where there is good air circulation: it doesn't like other plants or trees touching it! It can succumb to needle blights and cankers under such situations. We have provided plenty of space for ours to become a large evergreen tree.


'Golden Ghost' Japanese Red Pine (Pinus densiflora)
Golden Ghost has proven itself as the best variegated pine! Others we have tried look fine in the summer but sickly in the winter while 'Golden Ghost' retrains its crisp yellow striped needles through winter. Our small tree was donated to us by Marvin Snyder and can be found north of the Visitor Center in the new and expanding dwarf conifer garden.


'Compacta' Bosnian Pine (Pinus heldreichii)
Bosnian Pine is a rather rare pine that is becoming more available in nurseries because it has proven itself very hardy and disease resistant. While Austrian and Scotch Pines die in droves from disease this pine thrives. We planted our trees between Scotch Pines we knew would succomb to disease (almost all our Scotch pines have died and been removed). Our Bosnian Pines have thrived despite severe droughts and no care in a meadowy area at the end of the Nature Trail (opposite the Rock & Waterfall trolley stop). Our trees are the slower growing, more compact cultivar aptly named 'Compacta.'


'Greenleaf' Holly (Ilex x attenuata)
Greenleaf Holly is commonly sold in local nurseries as Greenleaf American Holly. It is actually a hybrid and not nearly as hardy as a true American Holly (Ilex opaca). (It is a hybrid between American Holly and the Gulf Coastal Dahoon Holly (Ilex cassine). I depicted it to show that it often suffers winter burn and discoloration out here at Powell and has suffured severe dieback in past severe cold while nearby Southern Magnolias and American Hollies are unscathed. It has hybrid vigor and grows very fast, so unlike American holly which takes years to become a nice specimen, this tree can be quickly produced for our instant gratification. It is fully hardy in sheltered, more urban parts of our region and a fine ornamental under such circumstances. It is a female holly and is covered by red berries wherever a male pollinator is growing nearby. Look for our plant on the south side of the Visitor Center.


Cholla (Opuntia imbricata) and Arkansas Yucca (Yucca arkansana - formerly Yucca glauca var. mollis)
Here are some evergreen for hot, dry spots! The cholla is native from Southwestern Kansas to throughout the American Southwest and is very hardy. It provides striking winter interest but is at its best with its magenta flowers in early summer. The Arkansas Yucca is a unique, fine textured yucca from the Ozarks and Ouchita Mountains and is also very hardy. It has tall spires of beautiful greenish-white flowers in early summer. Look for these plants in the Powell Gardens parking lot where our arboretum of all the native woody plants of Kansas and Missouri are planted.

All photos taken by Alan Branhagen at Powell Gardens on December 20, 2007.