Powell Gardens

The first time we saw Powell Gardens located about twenty miles east of Lee's Summit, MO along Highway 50 was in 1992. We took Mom to visit my brother Les and family in Warrensburg. At that time Powell Botanical Gardens were just beginning to be developed. The area where Bud posed with the rabbits was in a picnic area across a small lake from the garden area and gift shop. The parking area was limited, but uncrowded. It only took an hour to see all there was to see.

Fifteen years later during a weekend visit with my brother, I toured an entirely different Powell Gardens. The parking area was huge. Shuttles were available to take visitors from their cars to the visitors' center. If the rabbits hadn't still been there, I would not have been able to orient myself.

The top picture is of the Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel. It is across the lake from the visitor's center, gift shoppe, cafe, conservatory and education buildings. A dinosaur exhibit was featured during the August weekend Les and I were there. With map in hand we set off to see if we could find all the different species. The path led across the lake via the island garden then on to the rock and waterfall garden on the other side. While it was fun to find the dinosaurs and watch little kids doing the same, it was more interesting to me to see all the different flowers and plants.

We did wait for a trolley to take us over to the Chapel. (I think it was more than a mile to walk there.) We stopped at the perennial garden on the way back before taking the trolley to the new fountain garden to end our tour. We were there several hours, but in no way saw everything.

I highly recommend visiting Powell Gardens in person if you can. But until you do, you can get an idea of them by going to: www.powellgardens.org You won't be disappointed.