Architectural Inspiration at Powell Gardens

My husband, Mark, and I revisited Powell Gardens in Kingsville, Mo., last summer, and stopped by the Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel for the first time since our daughters were in middle school (they're now 20-somethings). As soon as we stepped through the doors and looked towards the front of the quiet, peaceful non-denominational sanctuary, I remembered our older daughter declaring she would get married there.


The view of serene water through soaring windows, and natural wood, have also inspired me during each visit to the chapel. I've been a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural style since my teens and the architect of this beautiful structure, E. Fay Jones, was an apprentice to Wright.


After a few minutes, we finished our tour. A fountain rushed into a shallow pool near the chapel entrance as we returned to the steamy summer heat, where butterflies and bees ate from vibrant blooms that covered the gardens in a riot of color.

Traveling Chapungu Sculptures

The closeness between mother and daughter was evident from the moment we happened upon this sculpture at Powell Gardens, Kingsville, Mo., in May 2008. We had also seen these mesmerizing, quietly inspirational and stunning works by artists from Zimbabwe, at Denver Botanic Gardens.

Created by members of the Shona tribe, the name, Chapungu (cha-POONG-goo), pays homage to the Bateleur eagle, a powerful bird that flies up to 300 miles a day, at 30 to 50 mph, and represents a good omen. The international exhibit represents 35 artists and creates a sensation wherever it appears. With its focus on trees, plants, animals, insects, reptiles, birds and as inter-personal relationships, Chapungu sculptures provide a quiet beauty and counterpoint to the colorful natural environments in which they are displayed.

Ranging in height from three to 11 feet and weighing between 500 and 5,000 pounds, each individual sculpture is the product of chisels, hammers, tile cutters, and metal combs, refined with sand paper and enhanced with clear wax that brings out the natural textures and colors of the stone. From natural stone, these artists create a new kind of beauty that endures in memory long after you see it.

Powell Gardens' Butterflies

Hundreds of multicolored tropical butterflies flitted from flower to flower inside screened pavilions where volunteers held caterpillars on their hands and small branches. Jessa and James Huebing-Reitinger shared their traveling art and science education exhibit, Project InSECT, for which Jessa paints luminous gigantic portraits of insects and James teaches visitors about the insects portrayed on each canvas. Children made butterfly wings and antennae headbands and painted pots to take home as adults purchased butterfly bushes.

It has been 12 years since Powell Gardens, Kingsville, Mo., began holding it's Festival of Butterflies during each August. Brilliant blue skies and an unusually comfortable temperature in the mid-80s brought people out by the hundreds on August 16.

But there's more to the 20-year-old Powell Gardens than butterfly festivals. It includes approximately 900 acres of rural countryside with a massive perennial garden, a waterfall and rock garden, a two-acre Island Garden, and a fountain garden. The stunning Marjorie Powell Allen Chapel was designed by architect Fay Jones - who took inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright's designs. Next up is a 12-acre Heartland Harvest Garden which will help visitors follow food 'from seed to plate,' beginning in spring 2009.