Botanical Garden in Kansas City

The Collections of a Living Museum

Powell Gardens is a living museum with a rapidly growing collection. With more than 21,000 plants on record by the end of 2020, the Gardens has amassed data that is important for long-term planning and as a reference tool.

Through a grant in 2020, the Powell Gardens’ collection moved to a platform allowing public access. Explore our living collection, features, and garden tours online with Garden Explorer.

With a common goal of protecting native plants by ensuring that native plant populations and their communities are maintained, enhanced, and restored, Powell Gardens is a nonfederal cooperator of the Plant Conservation Alliance.

Collections of Note

Other collections of note include dogwoods, native trees and shrubs, rock plants, daylilies, and bearded iris.

• Orchid Delirium, a spring exhibition at Powell Gardens, showcases select blooms from a 2,000-piece orchid collection highlighting the natural habitats in which the flowers are found.
• Powell Gardens’ magnolia collection has been certified by the American Public Gardens Association’s North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC). This collection is named in honor of past Director of Horticulture, Alan Branhagen. Some of the magnolias in the collection can be found along the Dennis and Annette Young Magnolia Walk by the Visitor Center.
• Its conifers are certified as a Reference Garden by the American Conifer Society.
• The lotus and waterlily collections have been designated as certified collections by the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society.
• Powell Gardens is an affiliated garden for the Hardy Fern Foundation.
• Under the direction of UMKC Professor Tamas Kapros, Ph. D. and team, a digital herbarium was created.

Gardening Resources

Gardening in the rollercoaster weather extremes of the Midwest brings its own set of challenges and rewards. At Powell Gardens, our staff is passionate about sharing information that will help you succeed with your own gardening adventures. Explore ways to learn during a visit.

Plant Evaluations & Introductions

Powell Gardens horticulture staff keeps a keen eye on plants on-site and throughout the region, always looking for plants with a unique set of characters that may make it a great garden plant. When such a plant is found, it is often propagated and grown in our evaluation gardens or nurseries. To date, Powell Gardens has selected eight unique plants, all American native trees, shrubs, and one vine, and we have a license agreement for their commercial production and sale.

One seedling tomato has also been selected for its uniqueness for the edible landscape and culinary use. If you have or know of a special plant, we are willing to test it and/or provide you with the right contacts for its potential introduction into the seed and/or nursery trade.

View More Gardening Resources from the Experts

Gardening Classes

Our adult education program provides the chance for you to learn from our talented horticulture staff. View our Event Calendar to see upcoming classes.

Powell Gardens Resources

Use these resources from Powell Gardens to help your own garden and landscape thrive:

• Regional Native Plants for Landscapes (PDF)
• Insectaries Garden Plants: Great Plants to Attract Pollinators and Beneficial Bugs
• Staff Picks: Drought-Resistant Plants for Greater Kansas City (PDF)
• A Tree List for Greater KC With Ecosystem Services in Mind (PDF)
• Champion Trees of Greater Kansas City
• Gardening Task Checklists by Season (PDF)
• New for 2016: The Island Garden’s Best Waterlilies (PDF)

Local plant societies are excellent sources of information:

• Greater Kansas City Dahlia Society
• Greater Kansas City Herb Study Group
• Greater Kansas City Iris Society
• Heart of America Gesnariad Society
• Kansas City Cactus and Succulent Society
• Mid-America Begonia Society
• Mo-Kan Daylily Society
• Orchid Society of Greater Kansas City
• Learn more about local garden groups at The Kansas City Gardener

Outside Resources

Plenty of additional resources can help guide your gardening endeavors. Here are a few we recommend:

State Extension Offices

• K-State Research & Extension: Find monthly garden calendars, answers to common plant problems, information about Master Gardeners, and more.
• University of Missouri Extension: Learn how to test your soil and find links to state-specific gardening information.

Plant Information

• Digital Powell Gardens Herbarium, created and directed by UMKC Professor Tamas Kapros, Ph. D., and team.
• Recommended Trees for Greater KC by Robert Whitman of Gould Evans
• Great Plants for the Great Plains (Nebraska Statewide Arboretum)
• Grow Native (Missouri native plants)
• Plants of Merit (plants proven to perform well in Missouri)
• Deep Roots KC