16 Oct Powell Gardens Receives $3,200 Grant from the Truman Heartland Community Foundation
Powell Gardens recently received a grant for $3,200 from the Truman Heartland Community Foundation to support existing remnant and reconstructed prairie on Powell Gardens’ grounds.
The Prairie Rehabilitation and Conservation project seeks to protect these prairies from invasive species and conserve native plant species. All restored prairie was seeded using hay bales from an unplowed prairie south of Sedalia, Missouri that contains both native grasses and wildflowers. A subset of this project is to improve the condition of a 3.26-mile nature trail that allows access to the remnant prairie for visitors and education groups. The trail’s signage explains the prairies, other natural resources, and conservation efforts.
The 3.26-mile Byron C. Schutz Nature Trail allows Powell Gardens’ expected 74,800 annual visitors access to the remnant prairie. The trail’s signage addresses the land’s history as a farmstead, draws attention to areas of remnant prairie, and provides visitors with information on the region’s diverse ecosystems, such as ponds, wetlands, hilltops, prairies, and woodlands.
Remnant prairie will also be incorporated into Powell Gardens’ 2019 youth education pilot program, Plants Matter! The Plants Matter! program aims to deeply impact students’ immersion in the outdoors through multiple garden visits and in-class sessions. These visits and sessions will emphasize topics including plant ecosystems and the environmental conditions needed by several species of Missouri plants to survive and thrive in our region. Students will observe the prairie ecosystem and identify native Missouri plants such as milkweed, paw paw, and coneflower. The pilot project will serve fifth-grade students from four to six classrooms within the Independence, Missouri school district.
Powell Gardens (the Gardens) is a Kansas City treasure with 970 acres of natural beauty less than an hour from downtown. Highlights of the area’s only major botanical garden include the Heartland Harvest Garden, the nation’s largest edible landscape; the Island Garden, featuring more than 200 varieties of water plants; and the David T. Beals, III Woodland and Stream Garden, where plants thrive in the shade.