Not enough time to visit a garden?

Our numerous visits to St. Louis always included time at Missouri Botanical Gardens.  However, our fall visit this year was a quick overnight trip for a cousin's anniversary party and there simply wasn't enough time. 















As soon as we checked into our hotel and I saw the courtyard behind the registration desk, I knew this wasn't going to be a problem. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 7 Gables Inn is a wonderful place to stay in Clayton, Missouri. 


The courtyard of the inn is a lovely setting for a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast and place to read the newspaper.


7 Gables Inn is in a neighborhood of art galleries, shops and restaurants.  Our morning stroll to church took a round about way so I could take a few pictures of the sidewalk dining spots, colorful containers, street trees, and adjacent neighborhood.  Though I missed the Missouri Botanical Gardens, we found a way to visit St. Louis area and still spend time in a garden.  

Here comes the bride - the construction phase of a garden for weddings

Linda, a dear friend, has dreams of a bride and groom getting married under the pergola in her garden some day.  Not only a site for weddings, the garden just east of Kansas City will be a place for social and church gatherings and be open, from time to time, for garden tours.

But, first, the construction phase.

A pile of sand and a cement mixer are signs that there is some serious construction going on here.  

The bricks are being made on site using this form.  Because a specific color is desired for some of the bricks, this time consuming process is preferred over buying ones at a local brickyard.  

Lines and stacks of bricks are ready to be installed in one of the remaining paths being constructed in the garden.  The design of the garden was modified when Linda discovered that the planned pathways don't work for some of the shortcuts she takes. 

Paths and gates are designed to be wide enough for wheelchairs.

Right now this fountain is a favorite swimming hole of the two resident dogs.  Built with ledges to hold water garden plants, next year this water feature will be full of plants.  The dogs will have to be content with swimming in another water garden constructed just for them on the edge of the garden.  

Here's a place where Linda can sit and watch the dogs swim, read a book, reflect on the day, pray, and plan out the next phase of the garden.  


With some plants in place and many more to come, Linda's plan is to mainly use native shrubs and perennials in the garden.  It's a tough site that is wide open to the elements.  There is pasture on the south and east sides of the garden and her earth contact home is on the north.  The large windows of the house overlook the garden.  She has found that many plants that grow successfully in most parts of Kansas City have a tough time here.  


What would you plant in this garden? 

My, oh my...

I had heard about this garden from numerous friends.  And, even though they all said "it is a must see garden" and I was prepared for something great, it still took my breath away when I walked through the gate.  Doug and Diane Seip have shared their gardens on a couple of occasions this year.  For the most recent event, Doug (with Family Tree Nursery) invited members of several area horticulture industry groups over for an evening tour. 

Doug has an incredible selection of conifers.  Pictured is a weeping white pine.  Yes, it is huge! 

If you have wondered how well Dragon Lady Hollies do in Kansas City's zone five climate, here's the answer.  Beautifully.  Doug planted two on either side of a garden shed by a walk way many years ago and they are now taller than the shed. 

An advantage of working at a nursery with a greenhouse, Doug can overwinter his banana tree successfully.   Mine didn't fare as well in my dining room. 

There are many beautiful containers in Doug and Diane's gardens.  Here's a couple of my favorites:

If you ever hear that the Seip's garden is open for a tour, drop everything and go!

A great weekend to visit Powell Gardens

 
Finishing up the stop at Powell Gardens, Lyman Whitaker's wind sculpture exhibits ends in June at Powell Gardens.  The large sculpture to the left greets visitors at the entrance of the visitor center.  


I spent last Sunday strolling along the gardens with my husband.  The morning was windy and the sculptures were fun to watch moving in the breeze.  

The one pictured on the right is one of my favorites. It is in a garden close to Cafe Thyme.  
 
In addition to the wind sculptures, Powell Gardens has been preparing for the next feature attraction.

Big Bugs, by Dave Rogers, are on display through October 3.  Throughout the gardens, you will find the bugs. We saw ants marching across the Meadow towards the chapel, a giant spider web in the Rock and Waterfall Garden, and a praying mantis in the Heartland Harvest Garden.  


The overlap of the two exhibits makes Memorial Day Weekend a great time to visit Powell Gardens. 

It had been ten years since my husband last visited Powell Gardens and he was amazed at all the changes.  Our first visit to Powell was over 20 years ago when the lakes were being dug and the old visitor center had a vegetable garden featuring plants from around the world. 


Today, visitors to Powell Gardens are fortunate to experience edibles from around the world at the 12 acre Heartland Harvest Garden.  Viewed from the top of the silo, the quilt garden is shown below.
 

At the tasting station we ate strawberries, carrots and the flowers from nasturtiums.  Though this garden peaks later in the season, there is much to experience right now.  I love the lines of this iron fence with the flowers in the herb garden.

And, not limited to the Heartland Harvest Garden, vegetables used throughout Powell Gardens:

After winding through the Island Garden past the living wall, we spent some time at the Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel.  Here's a few of my favorite views of the chapel:

Throughout the gardens we saw roses, peonies, iris and poppies flowering:

I'm looking forward to my next visit to Powell Gardens and bringing along my husband.  I can't wait to show him what rice looks like.

Stepping out of rush hour to smell the flowers

Do you spend much of your work week on 435 driving to and from work?  Now that it's a part of my daily routine, I have renewed appreciation for George Segal's sculpture titled Rush Hour. 

Getting away from the constant stop and go pace of daily life, my husband and I spent this past weekend wandering art galleries and strolling along the Plaza.

Of course, we had to stop in at one of my favorite gardens in Kansas City and see what was new at the Kauffman Memorial Gardens.  The conservatory was full of spring time flowers and fragrance.  Color even splashed across the floor thanks to the sun shining through the colorful panes hanging in the windows. 

There was a steady stream of visitors on Sunday morning.  Grandparents with grandchildren, a couple with a son running laps around the fountain, and quite a few taking photos with very nice cameras.  Once again, I realized I had forgotten my good camera and there I was taking pictures with my cell phone camera!


At the Garden Symposium dinner, I met a man who grew up going to scout camp on the property that is now Powell Gardens.  With family living in the area, he often joins them at Powell to fly kites by the lake.  He told me how much he loves it there and now he secretly considers it to be his own garden.  He appreciates the care that is given to the gardens at Powell so the property is always ready for his visits.  I know what he means - I feel the same way about the Kauffman Gardens.  Sound strange?  Oh well!

A journey down a path

At the end of the block in a suburban neighborhood in Shawnee, Kansas, there is a gated driveway leading to a lovely estate.  Land Art created many of the garden areas surrounding the residence.

A stone pathway from the pool and outdoor bar wraps around several mature trees to a sitting area by a fire pit and water feature.  Pragense Viburnum, boxwoods, Drift Roses, Lo and Behold Blue Chip Butterfly Bushes and fragrant perennials fill the gardens.  Filling the gaps of the stone pathway and patio are fragrant creeping thymes.  Although it is a new garden, the path and structures have a reassuring feeling of permanence about them.

A city sidewalk leading to the entrance of the Kauffman Memorial Gardens has been transformed by Purple Robe Locusts trained into arches.  Gardens on either side of this pathway have been heavily planted with perennials and annuals. Pathways lead the visitors throughout this two acre garden.

Though the Kauffman Gardens are wonderful year round, I can't imagine a better place for a garden stroll than in May with the fragrance and view of the flower clusters hanging from the arching trees.

Several years ago my husband and I ventured west of Chicago and stopped at the Garfield Park Conservatory on the way to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's studio and houses in Oak Park.  Niki in the Garden was on tour at the Conservatory and it just seemed like a great place to stop! 

One of my favorite sculptures from the exhibit was surrounded by a confusing pathway that led around in circles and it seemed to take forever to get to the destination in the center.  This is definitely a path my life has taken this past year. 

And, then out of nowhere, doors opened to an opportunity.

Though the creators of the Heartland Harvest Garden at Powell Gardens may have had something else in mind, I see the open barn doors as an invitation to explore and learn. 

After a very challenging year, I'm thrilled some doors opened for me and am excited about the year ahead.

Happy New Year!

Want to know more about Purple Robe Locust? Check out this article.

Thanksgiving at the Arboretum

Rather than napping, watching football or eating more turkey, I spent Thanksgiving afternoon at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.  There were dozens of families, some walking their dogs, enjoying a stroll that beautiful afternoon.  

The sumac at the entrance to the Arboretum tricked me into believing that there may not be much to see.  

  Pinwheel Felicia, a tough little annual, added color to the edge of seating area close by the Elliott Carlson's sculpture of the Two Frogs. 

 


In the Monet Garden, a couple of the clematis were still beautiful. Ramona Clematis had a single flower.  The seedhead of Belle Nantaise Clematis looks like spun sugar. 

 

Touches of red and burgundy show up in the  gardens with the fruit of the crabs, foliage of the Oakleaf Hydrangeas and the tops of the Dorothy Wycoff Pieris Japonica.  

I'm looking forward to going back for the 10th Annual Holiday Luminary Walk the weekend of December 4-5.