Butterfly Season Begins

Saturday was the beginning of butterfly season. I always count on the first butterflies to emerge or arrive with the opening of the first insect pollinated wild plants. That first flower the butterflies imbibe nectar from and help pollinate is the Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica). A quick hike on the Powell Gardens - Byron Shutz Nature Trail to the "hilltopping" ridge revealed nine species of butterflies on Saturday.

The first butterfly of the season this year was the Goatweed Leafwing. I saw about half a dozen of these brilliant orange butterflies on Saturday on the trail. They overwinter as adult butterflies so often emerge on warm winter days. You can see them regularly now that they have fully emerged from hibernating. This picture was taken by Betsy Betros and is of a female butterfly (the male is more evenly orange that seems to glow in the spring sunshine). Betsy is writing a new book about butterflies of the Kansas City Region that will have its preview at the opening of our butterfly garden on May 31 and be published by our Festival of Butterflies in August.


Red Admirals made their appearance on Saturday. It is interesting to me that we do not know for sure whether the first butterflies seen are ones that emerged from hibernation or immigrants from farther south. I saw three, two of which were definitely worn from a long flight or a long winter!

Saturday's butterfly list included:
Cabbage White
Spring Azure
Goatweed Leafwing
Eastern Comma
Gray Comma
Question Mark
Mourning Cloak
Red Admiral
Painted Lady

When the wild plum blooms, we can have nearly two dozen species of butterflies out on the nature trail. Part of the trail follows the highest ridge around and this is why it is such a special place to observe butterflies. Butterflies "hilltop" -- that is they go to the highest point around to find a mate. You can see inordinate congregations of butterflies perusing our trail for this reason as well as for its good habitat and plethora of early spring flowers from shrubby wild plum and fragrant sumac to herbaceous biscuit root and prairie-plum.

Missouri Arbor Day

Powell Gardens celebrated Missouri Arbor Day by planting a grove of 27 lindens (Tilia spp.). It was a typical Missouri Arbor Day with cloudy skies and a cool breeze.

Missouri Arbor Day is celebrated by Powell Gardens' staff and volunteers gathering together at morning break. This year's honorees were the members of KMOS TV and 90.9 The Bridge who pledged an extra $5 each. These extra pledges help establish a fund for tree planting at Powell Gardens to offset the stations' carbon footprint.

Here Powell Gardens' Director Eric Tschanz (right) and Senior Gardener Janet Heter place the first shovel of soil. Janet led the program with her "Top Ten Reasons to Celebrate Arbor Day:"
10. Trees are TREEific.
9. Trees provide a cool and beautiful place to live, work and play.
8. Trees improve our air and water quality.
7. Trees are renewable resources for paper, fuel and countless wood products.
6. Trees reduce heating and cooling costs.
5. Trees increase property values.
4. Trees provide habitat for wildlife.
3. Trees are a source of joy and spiritual renewal.
2. Trees enrich our lives.
1. PLANT a TREE!

Janet closed with this poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes:
"When we plant a tree we are doing what we can to make our planet a more wholesome and happier dwelling place for those who come after us, if not for ourselves."


KMOS TV and 90.9 The Bridge were represented by Dr. Don Peterson, Director of Broadcasting Services (left), and Mark Pearce, Coordinator for Corporate and Community Support (right). Each lent a hand with a shovel of soil.


The new linden grove is on the right (east) side of the road to the Powell Gardens chapel. You can see the Heartland Harvest Gardens nursery in the distance.

How did you spend your Arbor Day? Get out and visit your favorite nursery this spring and purchase a tree for your own arbor day celebration. There is hardly a more important thing one can do for our environment. Powell Gardens chose to purchase linden trees for our KMOS - 90.9 The Bridge donation not only for their carbon banking but because linden trees have very nectar rich flowers in late spring-early summer when there is a lull of flowering. The flowers are important for our declining honeybee populations as well as for a plethora of other pollinators and beneficial insects. (Remember how important these creatures are to pollinating our fruits and vegetables we all too often take for granted!) They make a fine honey and the blossoms are listed as edible, especially used for teas.

The lindens planted in the Powell Gardens linden grove:

American Linden or Basswood (Tilia americana) represented by the following four cultivars: 'American Sentry', 'Boulevard', 'Legend' and 'Lincoln'. Native locally.

White Basswood (Tilia heterophylla) 'Continental Appeal'. Native to Missouri.

Silver Linden (Tilia tomentosa) 'Sterling' native to Eastern Europe - Western Asia.

Crimean Linden (Tilia x euchlora) a natural hybrid from the west side of the Black Sea.

Harvest Gold Linden (Tilia cordata x T. mongolica) of garden origin.

Summer Sprite Linden (Tilia cordata 'Halka') which is a genetic dwarf that only reaches about 15 feet tall at maturity.

All photographs taken by Roland Thibault on Friday April 4, 2008.

March Statistics and Early April Flowers

March 2008 was a wily month! The temperatures ended up about 1.5 degrees below average though it seemed so much colder! We have been spoiled by warm, early springs in the past few years. We had a whopping 4.82 inches of rain, which is well above average (and NO snow). I cannot complain because we continue to replenish subsoil moisture and groundwater so depleted from recent droughts.

There were two days with highs in the 70s, six days with highs in the 60s, 11 days with highs in the 50s, seven days with highs in the 40s, and five days with highs in the 30s. One day the high was a meager 30F, more than 15 degrees below normal. The coldest temperature was 10F on March 8.

The Flowering Dogwoods in the conservatory display continue to shine with spectacularly large bracts. The tiny true flowers in the center are also now in bloom and give a golden centered look to each blossom.

This is a spectacular new Phragmipedium Living Fire orchid in the conservatory display. Be sure and take time to observe all the orchids at their peak of glory -- they are tucked in throughout the display.

The azaleas are coming into bloom in the conservatory as well. Here is White Lights Azalea, a very hardy and fragrant cultivar from Minnesota. It is very reliable as an outdoor shrub in our climate and a must for a white or evening garden. Our outside "Lights" azalea collection blooms around the Spring Plant Sale in early May. It's located on the north side of the Rock & Waterfall Garden.

The Cornelian-Cherry Dogwood (Cornus mas & C. officinalis) are in full bloom (C. officinalis depicted). They are one of our few showy, yellow flowering trees and look best with an evergreen or blue sky backdrop. This one can be seen below the Visitor Center on the Dogwood Walk. Cornus mas is native to Eastern Europe and Western Asia while Cornus officianlis is from Eastern Asia. You can tell them apart by counting hairs on the undersides of their leaves!

The exquisitely aromatic Japanese Grape-Holly (Mahonia japonica & 'Bealii') are in full bloom. This is a marginally hardy shrub that continues to thrive with our mild winters. IT NEVER GOT BELOW ZERO AGAIN OUT HERE! I saw beautiful plants for sale at Soil Service in Kansas City. I still recommend a sheltered site for them.

Dawn Viburnum (Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn') is one of our earliest flowering shrubs. The sweetly scented flowers draw the first honeybees to their nectar. They can be injured by severe cold now but this spring has held them off to bloom a month later -- hopefully we are done with extreme cold.

One of the first plants to leaf out in spring are the buckeyes (Aesculus). This is the new leaf bud of the Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia), a shrub native to southeastern Missouri with brilliant red tubular flowers. It demonstrates why this is my favorite time of year! I think emerging foliage buds epitomize the term extraordinary in the ordinary. Be sure to look at emerging buds up close this spring -- they are all beautiful in their own way and show a stunning range of forms and colors. Buckeyes may be the first to leaf out but conversely are one of the first woody plants to lose their leaves in late summer or early fall.

All photographs taken on Wednesday, April 2, 2008, at Powell Gardens by Alan Branhagen.