J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, Sears, and even F. W. Woolworth all had fabric and sewing notion departments, but the most magical of them all was Kaplan's Fabrics on the Country Club Plaza.

When I headed out for my morning walk yesterday, I turned right, instead of left to walk a few blocks to the Budd Park Esplanade. Kansas City Parks and Recreation has moved quickly on their commitments to the neighborhood to prepare spaces for native plantings, and I was interested to see what might have transpired since my trip to the site earlier in the week. I drive this section of Van Brunt Boulevard daily, yet on foot it is a different world altogether. Behind the whe

A small band of gardeners in Kansas City's Historic Northeast is growing organically around a simple idea: improving the neighborhood through the beauty and ecological benefits of native plants. The effort began with a conversation. During an Indian Mound Neighborhood Association meeting last November, Kay Hopkins and I discovered a shared interest. Kay, an association board member with training in the Master Naturalist program, and I, a longtime Master Gardener, quickly foun