Post Solstice Winter's Fury

My how the landscape has changed since the last blog before the holidays on the Winter Solstice! Near record snowfall has whitened the landscape (see above) and looking out my screened office window I see the resident Northern Mockingbird huddled in his winter larder of possumhaw berries (see below).

The Possumhaws (Ilex decidua) from outside on this dark, snowy day reveal their vibrant red berries that will be the sustenance of the mockingbird. Unfortunately this year our mockingbird is a nuisance as he throws himself at his image in windows of the hort cabin and every car's rear view mirror in the parking lot. He is just being very aggressive to protect his territory and food reserves--thinking his image is another rival mockingbird. One gardener reminded me of the book To Kill a Mockingbird--they are a protected songbird!

Greenhouse I from the outside on this snowy day: for the first time in 14 years we are unable to transport plants from the greenhouses to the Visitor Center's conservatory where they comprise the ever-changing display. "Treasures of the Desert & Winter Blooms" was supposed to open this weekend but many of the plants cannot be moved in this weather so the full display is postponed (check the website for updates).

Inside Greenhouse 1 it is quite comfortable and you can see our extensive collection of succulents -- most destined for the conservatory display as soon as the weather allows.

Here some large Agaves (Agave americana) and an old jade plant (Crassula argentea) in full bloom await transport to the conservatory.

Greenhouse 1 is kept cool in winter and is the place to store or start plants that need cool winter weather. Here 4 California Buckeyes (Aesculus californica) have germinated from nuts gathered by our Director Eric Tschanz in high elevations of the California Sierras. California Buckeye is listed as hardy in zone 6 but prefers a more Mediterranean, maritime or snowy montane climate -- probably even more stunning as a flowering tree in English gardens than in the wild. We will try this plants outside at Powell Gardens because you just never know until you try and Eric found these at or near the coldest part of their native range. Plants grown from the colder (northern or higher elevation) parts of their range are almost always hardier than the same species of plant grown from warmer parts of its range.

Red Buckeyes (Aesculus pavia) have germinated well too as we had great nut production on our plants last fall and I could not bear to let this valuable Missouri native shrub/small tree go solely to the squirrels. These plants will be planted in wooded portions of the gardens where their brilliant scarlet spring flowers will one day attract visitors' gazes as well as hungry hummingbirds. Red Buckeyes grow slowly, but small plants will often bloom.

It is "week 2" in the Greenhouse complex where Horticulturist Donna Covell works to get all the seed scheduled for growing. More than 80 planted seed trays are already sown in the greenhouse but more than 300 varieties are yet to be scheduled. Donna has to determine when the seed is sown of each plant variety requested by gardeners. The gardeners give the date they need a plant by and Donna works backward in time to provide a quality plant ready to go in the ground. Spring planting begins around March 15, summer planting around May 1. Each species and variety takes various amounts of time to germinate and grow into a blooming plant. Yes, it's a mind boggling and time consuming project but Donna always delivers!

Yubi the greenhouse complex mouser gives me a heads up that she has been doing her job and keeping mice out of the seeds and newly planted seed trays. Pre-cat, mice did considerable damage!

Cyclamen in bloom brighten up Greenhouse #6. These colorful blooming plants are perfect for winter displays and a good indoor plant for cool, bright rooms (they despise warm, dry indoor spaces). The phenomenal diversity of this plant is from hybridization of just one diminutive cyclamen species found wild in the Mediterranean (Cyclamen persicum).

Cyclamen Halios white -- note the silver patterned foliage, another great attribute of this plant.

Cyclamen Halios pink

Cyclamen Mini Metis has exceptionally silvered leaves!

Back outside, the winter landscape beckons: an almost unprecedented amount of snow! We invite you out to enjoy this snowy landscape--an opportunity we may not get for many more years. Gardeners have shoveled a path through most of the gardens so they will be accessible by Saturday. Unfortunately Saturday's forecast is for record cold--a prediction we hope fails to come to fruition. Sunday's weather is supposed to moderate and be quite ideal for a winter walk. With the proper garb, it is a great season to enjoy the winter beauty of Powell Gardens.

Cool Greenhouse #1

Powell Gardens' Greenhouses each have a purpose in production and / or winter storage of unhardy plants in our collection. Greenhouse #1 is our "cool" greenhouse with low nighttime temperatures; it is a place to store warm temperate plants that require climates milder than ours but still are not tropical. Plants from deserts and Mediterranean climates (including California) or semi-tropical climates like the Gulf Coast or Southern Japan and China thrive in this greenhouse and usually relish being outdoors for our hot summers.

A peek in the door will reveal our collection of succulents from around the world. Most of these plants go on display outdoors around the Visitor Center in summer.


The bougainvillea is beginning to bloom and these dazzling floral beauties thrive in cool winter conditions. We have several and they go on display in containers or in the conservatory at other seasons when they are in peak bloom. Bougainvilleas like lean soils so be sure to not over-fertilize them or you will get all foliage and no flowers.


The Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) that bloomed last fall is starting to form fruit that will ripen this spring. Loquats are fruit trees native to Southern China and Japan and our tree will go on display in the Heartland Harvest Garden for the summer. Loquats must have a cool but not frigid winter and thrive outdoors on the Gulf Coast or California. They make a beautiful container plan here!


Plants like this Chinese Redbud (Cercis chinensis 'Don Egolf') are also spending the winter in Greenhouse 1. It is spring in the greenhouse and the redbud is in full bloom. This new cultivar of redbud is listed as zone 6 and was donated to us as a small plant. We will plant it on the grounds next spring--many plants gain hardiness as the plant gets more size. This new cultivar was bred by its namesake at the National Arboretum and its "attributes" are that it is a large shrub and sets no seed pods.


This green spiny shrub is a seedling of Hardy Orange (Poncirus trifoliata) that we grew from seed donated by the Missouri Botanical Garden. These hardy oranges are scheduled to be planted in the Heartland Harvest Garden where they will make an impenetrable hedge. Hardy orange has wonderfully fragrant flowers typical of all Citrus and sour "mini orange" fruit that can be concocted into a preserve that is edible. They are an important understock (roots to graft onto) for other varieties of citrus to improve hardiness. We do have an established 'Flying Dragon' cultivar of hardy orange growing outdoors on the south side of the Visitor Center.


Many of our stock plants of salvia spend the winter in greenhouse 1 and bloom beautifully in the shorter days of winter. The purple salvia is the cultivar 'Paul' and the vermilion cultivar is 'Orange Louie.' Both of these salvias go on display in the Hummingbird Garden for the summer.

A mist bench in Greenhouse 1 is a place to root cuttings of many of our specialty or stock plants. You can see cuttings of Viburnums just beginning to bud in the foreground, variegated schefflera in the middle and cuttings of magnolias towards the back. The brown mat you can see on the right is a heat mat that gives the trays of cuttings warmth to encourage root growth.

Flats of specialty plants we grew from seeds or cuttings fill available space. The "spiky" plants are a tray of Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) that we grew from an exceptionally hardy plant. Left are thriving cuttings of our groundcover Memorial Rose (Rosa wichuriana) from the Perennial Garden: destined for our Spring Plant Sale the first weekend in May. The back right plants are seedlings of buckeyes; both bottlebrush and red that will be used to beef up our collections.

Last is a seedling of a rare Missouri tree: Littlehip Hawthorn (Crataegus spatulata). This seedling will be destined for our collections as it gains some size. It has tiny red hips in fall that birds relish and some of the most beautiful fluted and cinnamon-silver mottled trunks of any plant hardy here.

Powell Gardens is completing two recycled greenhouses (from the former Longview Gardens) and still plans to assemble one more recycled greenhouse (donated from a local landscaper) to store the unhardy plants of the Heartland Harvest Garden. When all greenhouses are complete, Powell Gardens will have 10 greenhouses for production of seasonal plants and storage of its collection of over 15,000 accessioned plants. Keep watch for opportunities to visit them, as they are not open to the public except for special events -- maybe next fall 2009?

It's time for our Annual Spring Plant Sale

It's time once again for our annual Spring Plant Sale. We have a fine selection of top of the line perennials, annuals, tropicals, herbs and pre-made containers. The sale is a benefit to our Friends Membership so they get the first pick on Friday night (May 2) from 5-7 p.m. The sale is open to all visitors on Saturday (May 3, 10a.m. - 5p.m.) and Sunday (May 4, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.). We grow most of the perennials and all of the annuals/tropicals ourselves but there are some last minute shipments or perennials from top regional growers. The herbs are grown organically by a local grower specifically for our sale. All images are from the plants grown for the sale taken in our production greenhouses. It is but a small sample: see our website for the complete list of plants available http://www.powellgardens.org/default.asp?page=PlantSale.

Meadow Sage (Salvia nemerosa 'Viola Klose') is a phenomenal perennial salvia with larger blooms produced more freely. You literally can have this perennial blooming from May to September with proper dead heading.

This hybrid perennial Salvia 'Eveline' has the largest blooms I have ever seen in the group! They are an inviting and warm pink color. It is also a rebloomer if you deadhead the spent flower stalks.


Some of our plants are new to us. This is a new Evening-Primrose (Oenothera kunthiana 'Glowing Magenta'). We got the stock from Michigan and it is listed as hardy in our zone but we have not seen or grown it before. It is supposed to bloom for a long period into summer and be only 6-12" tall. It is beautiful and well behaved so far but the flowers are more refined than magenta!


White Evening Primrose (Oenothera caespitosa) is a glorious Western native with huge pillowy white flowers. It must be grown in a dry, well-drained site.


This is a new hybrid Hardy Geranium 'Rainbow' because of the beautiful subtle blend of colors in the blossom. The foliage has some variable shadings as well making it very ornamental. It's new from Holland.


We love the dark leaved "Bishop of" Series of Dahlias. We only have a few for sale and they fly off the shelves!

This is the relatively new Coreopsis 'Jethro Tull' with extra large, fluted petals. It is a hybrid of native species of Coreopsis but more compact and floriferous than its wild parents.

This is the selection 'Denver Gold' of the Western Columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha). Many western plants do not like our heat and humidity but this one has proven itself as a star plant in our area. Columbines are naturally short-lived so be sure to allow it to self sow for future plants.

The rich, velvety red flowers or Clematis 'Westerplatte' are always a stunner. We will have seven specially selected clematis with a range of colors from velvety purple 'Monte Cassino' to shockingly smoky pink and double 'Violet Elizabeth.'

It is Time to Plant Cool Season Annuals, Shrubs & Trees!

Don't listen to your weathermen who say to hold off on planting; NOW is the time to plant dormant shrubs and trees and to plant cool weather, frost tolerant types of annuals outside. DO heed the weatherman's advice and do not plant outside any summer annuals or frost tender plants like tomatoes, peppers, marigolds and zinnias.

Production in the Powell Gardens' greenhouses is on a springtime roll. Here Eric Perrette, Gardener-Grower, carefully gives each flat of plants the proper amount of water. It is more challenging than you might think! We are bursting at the seams and it is time for cool season plants to leave the greenhouses to make space to grow summertime's flowers.

The first step for cool season annuals is to harden them off outside. Even a frost-tolerant, cool-loving annual cannot take the abrupt move from a cozy greenhouse to the unpredictable weather outside. Frost blankets can be seen on the right and they are pulled over the plants to protect them from deer and any hard frost at night. You see no flower colors because we disbud (remove any flowers). We want the plants to put on flowers when they are put in our display beds or containers.


Ornamental cabbages and kale are ideal for planting out at this season. Ruby Perfection cabbage (left), Redbor Kale (upper right) and Chidori White Kale (lower right) show a sample of the foliage plants we use outdoors for ornament in the cool season. All these plants are edible greens, too. Planting them early helps these cool-loving plants establish well and they often last well into summer. Redbor Kale often survives all the way until next spring and is a Plant of Merit.


Who can resist the whiskers of a Viola's flower? This is one of the Sorbet Duet mix whose "faces" range from white to orange or purple and look splendid when planted together. Violas and their related pansies are great hardy flowers to plant now.

Sweet Alyssum is another good cool-loving annual. This is a new strain called 'Mulberry Mix' with a range of pink and purple flowers. We always like the soft perfume of these flowers in the spring air.

Dianthus or Pinks are another great, hardy annual to plant now. This one is called Floral Lace Picotee.

Here is a cool-loving container outside the Visitor Center. It uses Dutch Iris, a red Carnation Dianthus, lettuce, kale. and more.

Ranunculus with their crepe paper-like double flowers are some of our annual favorites at Powell Gardens. They only do well in the cool season of spring or fall.

Osteospermum or "African Daisies" also flourish in the cool weather of spring but we keep them near the building under the overhang to protect them from frost. Here is a pink flowering Osteo paired beautifully with redbor kale.

Here is a new shipment of unique plants from Fairweather Gardens. For unique and unusual mailorder plants we highly recommend the quality and size sent by Fairweather Gardens (http://www.fairweathergardens.com/) and they are supporters of the gardens. We also highly recommend Klehm Song Sparrow as a unique source for rare plants (http://www.songsparrow.com/).

Yes it is time to plant dormant trees and shrubs (notice those in the pictures still have buds and no fresh new leaves)! It gives them time to root in before the heat of summer arrives. Dormant trees and shrubs are quite capable of taking any extreme cold that is likely lurking.

I challenge gardeners to head out to their favorite garden centers this Easter weekend and pick up their favorite cool-loving annuals, trees and shrubs. The weather is supposed to be on the cold side so why not spend it picking out the plants you will want to plant when the springtime weather returns next week. You can put together containers in a garage and place them out after this weekend's expected cold snap. Just get out and get growing this season!

All photographs taken on March 21, 2008, at Powell Gardens.

Earth Day Seedlings

We often give away seedling plants for Earth Day and this year we will be giving out seedlings of Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora). Take a look at how our seedlings are germinating. We collected the seed off our collection of the hardiest known magnolias last November and cold stratified the seed this winter.


Look closely and you will see a gnat on the left seed coat. The seed is germinated in an open flat in the Greenhouse.

The new seedling sheds its seed coat to reveal its two seed leaves called cotyledons (plants with two cotyledons are called Dicotyledons or Dicots for short). Magnolias are some of the most ancient of Dicots, which are the flowering plants.


The new seed leaves do have chlorophyll and begin photosynthesis to harvest the energy of the sun. All life on Earth could not exist without this process. In the coming weeks we will transplant these seedlings into individual containers for you to take home on Earth Day. (Quantities will be limited--so come early!)

We chose to give away Southern Magnolias for Earth Day because it is an ancient species that has withstood climate changes beyond our comprehension. There are 17 million-year-old fossils that key to this species! When Europeans settled North America they were native to only the Coastal Plain of the United States from southeastern North Carolina south and westward to eastern Texas. A long time ago they were native in what is now Missouri and are actually expanding their range northward again, aided by cultivation and milder winters. We have actually had seedlings emerge and grow beneath plantings at Powell Gardens.


Here is what your seedlings will look like in a few years! It takes five years for them to achieve this size. The first of these seedlings (on the south side of the hort cabin) bloomed last summer but usually it takes a seedling eight years to flower. The flowers are the classic huge white bloom of intense fragrance. Southern Magnolias bloom in late May and early June and sporadically through summer and occasionally into fall. Their late-blooming nature allowed them to escape the Easter freeze last year. They should be planted in a sheltered place because they do not like temperatures below 0F but our selections should survive -15F and have survived a quick dip to -25F (with all the leaves killed). They are extremely heat and drought tolerant.


Southern Magnolias become huge evergreen trees to over 100 feet in height in the Deep South. In Kansas City the champion tree is about 45 feet tall with an equal spread. They usually reach about 30 feet in our area and are not recommended north of here. Each flower lasts only three days but they are produced sporadically over a long period. They make great cut flowers to enjoy in a rose bowl. The fruit in fall looks like a popsicle and red-coated seeds emerge as this cone-like fruit ripens. Mockingbirds relish the fruit but they are quite beautiful to our eye against the lustrous, evergreen leaves. Stay tuned for more about Earth Day at Powell Gardens.


All photos taken by Alan Branhagen on March 3, 2008.

Restoring Native Plants

Seed trays of newly emerged native plant seedlings bring a touch of spring to Powell Gardens' greenhouses. Powell Gardens' mission to embrace the Midwest's spirit of place makes growing, promoting, displaying and conserving native plants an important activity. Each late winter we grow a wide array of native plants for Kansas City Wildlands (http://www.kcwildlands.org/).

Kansas City Wildlands is a not-for-profit coalition of resource professionals, private conservation organizations and conservation-minded citizens who restore and manage the finest remnants of native "wildlands" in Greater Kansas City. Powell Gardens is a partner in this coalition and our contributing role is to grow unique and rare native plants for Kansas City Wildlands restoration activities. All the seeds we plant are collected by Wildlands-trained volunteers from local natural areas.


Some of the seed is started in sheltered seed flats resting on heat mats to encourage germination. Each fall, the seed is brought to Powell Gardens by KC Wildlands volunteers. Our Senior Gardener Marie Frye then becomes in charge of growing these plants. The seed must first be stratified as per each individual species. For example: some seed must be chilled for up to three months and be kept moist at all times before being put in seed trays or flats to germinate. Some seeds require scarification -- that is the breaking of the seed coat for germination.

Here seedling Blazingstars (Liatris) can be seen from the corner of the seed flat.

Seedling Blazingstars look like tiny swords! In two seasons they will display spires of royal purple, nectar rich blooms -- important nourishment for a plethora of beneficial insects.

Seedling Wild Indigos (Baptisia) put out three-parted, clover-like new leaves. Wild Indigos are important legumes in native prairies as they fix nitrogen into the soil and improve its fertility.

Here Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurescens) is well on its way with its first new leaves. Purple Milkweed is a wildflower in decline. It prefers savanna or open woods to live and without help from organizations like KC Wildlands, it would certainly be on its way to extinction in our area. KC Wildlands burns or removes invasive brush to maintain its habitat.

All of the seedlings are scheduled to be "moved up" into larger cells ranging from 18 to 36 plants per tray. (Hopefully a blog later this week to show the process) In early May KC Wildlands volunteers will pick up the flats of baby plants and take them to various restoration projects around the metro region. Go to http://www.kcwildlands.org/ if you are interested in volunteering with their important work and be a part of planting these plants back into their native habitat.

We believe this "in-situ" conservation is the most important way to conserve our flora. Sometimes it is important to conserve them by planting them at the gardens, which is known as "ex-situ" conservation. Powell Gardens is a major player in some federally endangered plant conservation, including growing plants for the federal recovery plan of the severely endangered Mead's Milkweed.