Spring Blooms

a review of what is happening at Powell Gardens

It starts with a snowdrop. The garden is sending a signal that the days are warming. Snowdrop flowers dance in the gentle breeze of a warm winter day and bring joy to us gardeners. They also bring hope for a new gardening season. The tranquil pace of late winter gives time to sit in the garden and dream of spring gardening. What gardening mistakes of last year will be avoided? Will this be the year the perennials leap and fill the garden with flowers? I look at the snowdrop flowers on snowy days and am reminded to be resilient when facing the challenges of gardening in the Midwest.

Ignoring spring cleaning indoors, the pace quickens and I’m all on board with spring cleaning the garden. The manicured areas at Powell Gardens need grooming ahead of our spring visitors. Of course, naturalized areas are left alone, and the winter homes of beneficial insects are protected. On the walk to the Marjorie Allen Powell Chapel, I keep an eye out for the colonies of trilliums and bloodroots that emerge through the carpet of leaves at the edge of the woods. Masses of winter aconite pop up along a hidden trail at the David T. Beals III Woodland and Stream Garden. Drifts of hellebores flower along the slopes leading to the streams. Balkan anemones and dwarf bearded iris bring pops of color above the wall at the Marlese Lowe Gourley Island Garden. Nearby, branches of Cornus mas trees and forsythias are filled with cheery yellow flowers.

April brings a flurry of activity to Powell Gardens with little time to sit still. Painted Garden opens in mid-April and combines the arts and gardens with an eye on design. Peregrine Honig, Kansas City artist, takes over the conservatory with an installation titled Night Blooms featuring palm trees from our collection. A hundred thousand early, mid, and late season jonquils flower in the lawn behind the Visitor Center and Perennial Garden. Our bearded iris collection, curated by Dr. Norlan Henderson, begins flowering mid to late April. Award

winning iris are planted in beds closest to the Fountain Garden cascades. The late Dr. Henderson’s favorites are planted in the Millstone Garden beds.

Tulip mania is celebrated with colorful patterns of mid and late season tulips planted in the borders at the Fountain Garden and Island Garden. Tulips in the Fountain Garden are sprayed regularly with a deer repellent. Fortunately, the deer haven’t discovered the back pathway to the Island Garden that doesn’t involve bridges. There, the tulips are safe.

Updated succulent walls with new patterns have been installed

in a Garden Gallery greenhouse by the Menu Garden. Made possible by the Jonathan and Nancy Lee Kemper fund and Longshadow, Powell Garden debuts new stone planters to be filled with spring blossoms. Ten art-inspired containers on the Visitor Center terraces will be installed by local designers. The garden’s canopy is filled with magnolia, dogwood, redbud and crabapple flowers. Just weeks ago, the flower buds were tight on the trees.

Hopefully, we won’t have a repeat of last year’s May snow. It was good to see that our native redbuds and dogwoods can tolerate

late season snow. Last year, I tried to remind the Butterfly Magnolia that the snowdrops do fine in snow, and it should do the same. Sadly, it ignored me. However, drawing on snowdrop’s resiliency, we move on from spring and look to summer.

It is my hope that summer brings the gardens some cloudy days to break up the heat along with regular rainfall.

Bearded Iris

Photos by Susan Mertz.

Snowdrops

Blooming trees and bulbs

SUSAN MERTZ Plantswoman

With over 25 years in the horticulture industry and public gardening community, Susan is Director of Horticulture at Powell Gardens. Married, with grown children and a granddaughter, Susan and her husband love to travel and want to see the world. Or, as much of the world as is covered by their frequent flyer miles. As long as there is a garden or two included in each vacation spot, her suitcase and camera bag are packed.