Traverse through Brookside, Sunset Hills and Central Hyde Park for garden inspiration at seven gardens on the Wornall/Majors House Museums Garden Tour on Saturday, June 2.
The biennial tour will feature native and edible plants, chickens, butterfly and pollinator gardens and a new urban Flower Farm and Design Studio at five private gardens, plus the medicinal and aromatic herb garden at the Wornall House Museum and an opportunity to meet the head horticulturist at the Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden.
The garden tour kicks off with a patron’s party at 7 pm. on Friday, June 1 that includes a cocktail reception, hors d’ oeuvres and a sneak preview of the gardens. Tickets are $75 and include re-entry to the gardens on June 2. The full garden tour is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 2. Tickets are $20 members / $25 in advance / $30 the day of the tour. Tickets can be purchased online at Wornall/Majors House Museums Garden Tour, by calling 816-444-1858, or at local Hen House grocery stores.
Tour gardens include:
Dana Posten: 4941 Westwood Road, Kansas City, MO
The Dana Posten’s Garden in Sunset Hills is more than a reflection of the owner’s love of cut flowers. She recently opened POSY, a new urban Flower Farm and Design Studio. Visitors will learn from a professional the best garden practices for growing cut flowers and stroll paths bordered by peonies, gomphrena, verbena, flowering tobacco, magnolia, winterberry, cotton and lavender.
David Lucken & Paul Mesner: 3611 Holmes St. & 3615 Holmes St., Kansas City, MO
Two adjacent properties come together to form the gardens of David Lucken and renown puppeteer Paul Mesner in this Central Hyde Park garden. While the front yards maintain separate identities as sun gardens, the back yards flow together to create an edible paradise. Chickens, fruit trees, berry bushes, vegetables and herbs offer a functional and aesthetic space for these urban farmers.
Jill DeWitt & Charles Wurrey: 525 E. 54th St., Kansas City, MO
The front yard of Jill DeWitt and Charles Wurrey is a spectacular garden of native plants curated to encourage pollinators and birds. An oasis for biodiversity and Missouri’s natural heritage, native trees, shrubs and wildflowers adorn this Crestwood home to form a landscape that is sustainable and water-wise.
Cynthia & Bill Schmidt: 5400 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO
Situated on a sunny, corner lot, the garden and Cynthia and Bill Schmidt is a perennial oasis. Sugar maples, redbud, cherry and river birch are the hallmarks of this mature urban ecosystem that also features blueberries, viburnum, lilacs, perennial wildflowers and groundcover. The landscape attracts swallowtails, hummingbirds, songbirds and monarchs. In the backyard, three raised beds feature vegetables and herbs.
Ann Skinner-Einbender & Ron Einbender: 5414 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO
Form, function and color come together in this English-inspired Cherry Street garden. Influenced by memories of her father’s garden in England, Ann Skinner-Einbender and Ron Einbender, with the help of Aaron Browning, crafted their backyard into a “working garden” where flower and vegetable plots are combined for beauty and practicality in one space. A shaded area intertwined with footpaths provides a peaceful setting to observe the birds and butterflies who enjoy native milkweed and surrounding plants.
The Wornall House Garden: 6115 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO
The Master Gardeners of Greater Kansas City have been instrumental in designing The Wornall House Garden in the spirit of John and Eliza Wornall, the 1858 settlors of the property. Plants utilized for medicinal, household and aromatic dishes cover the entire garden, creating an area that is reflective of 19th century, pioneer life and presents ideas on sustainable gardening practices that still apply today.
Kauffman Gardens: 4800 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO
The Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden draws inspiration from the couple’s journey through life. Duane Hoover, the lead horticulturist, will share the gardening practices behind the display.
The Wornall/Majors House Museums is a nonprofit that preserves the John Wornall House and the Alexander Majors House. Both homes are on the National Register of Historic Places and are two of the few remaining antebellum-era landmarks in the Kansas City metro. The John Wornall House, 6115 Wornall Road, is in the Brookside neighborhood and The Alexander Majors House is located at 8201 State Line Road, both in Kansas City, MO.
