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Warm Wonderland

Wendy Powell in the Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel. “Watching the expression come across people’s faces when they walk in the chapel is one of my favorite things,” she says. photo by Steve Sanders

Winter can’t stop a good thing. Even as most gardens go dormant, the enjoyment of nature doesn’t stop for some people. “I love winter walks through the gardens,” says Wendy Powell, Powell Gardens board member and wife of George Powell III, grandson of the gardens’ founder. While cold weather rolls through and snow blankets the ground, the gardens still offer beautiful scenery and wonder to those willing to bundle up. With rosy cheeks and lungs full of crisp fresh air, Wendy and other patrons of Powell Gardens learn firsthand about the seasons.

In fact, the cycle of seasons in the Midwest was praised as a major benefit to making the site a botanical garden in 1988, when the gardens opened to the public. Some Kansas Citians do not realize botanical gardens of this caliber exist locally, much less visit during the off-season. But that is just when this amazing attraction and resource gets warmed up. In addition to the trails remaining open year-round, holiday events are plentiful.

Wendy will make several visits this holiday season to introduce her 20-month-old grandson to Santa, when he’s visiting children on Saturdays in December, and attend chapel holiday performances, held December 8 and 15. An annual crowd favorite includes the Gardens by Candlelight event, December 8-9, when thousands of glowing luminaries line the walkways throughout the gardens.

The Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel is one of the area’s most identifiable forms of contemporary architecture and a popular location for special events. Designed by Fay Jones, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, the glass and wood structure inspires awe, especially during the season of reverence. Wendy calls the land and the Prairie style of architecture “an ideal marriage.”

“Watching the expression come across people’s faces when they walk in the chapel is one of my favorite things,” she says.

Her passion for Powell Gardens is clear, and she takes the simplicity and serenity of the surroundings to heart. “I’m a ‘less is more’ type of person,” she says. At home, a remodeled condominium at The Crestwood, Wendy keeps holiday decorations relatively simple, with a collection of nutcrackers and a tree. That saves her time for an old tradition that was passed down to her: cooking a true Swedish smorgasbord, complete with Swedish meatballs, ham, fish, beets, potato salad and a relish tray.

The idea of a bounty of food will be emulated in Powell Gardens’ newest addition, the Heartland Harvest Garden, debuting spring 2009. The 12-acre agricultural area will showcase orchards, field crops, vegetables and other food plants grown around the world, with the theme “From Seed to Plate.” It will be the gardens’ largest expansion since the opening of the island garden in 2001 and the only garden of its kind in the U.S.

“It’s fitting because one of the first temporary gardens here was a vegetable garden. To think of the foresight and ability of our family to do this…,” Wendy trails off, looking around. “We are so blessed.”