In 2025 KNPS decided to try something new to foster a greater connection between the Society and the state’s higher education community by hosting student poster sessions to highlight the botanical (or botanically adjacent) research happening in Kentucky. The 2025 sessions were a great success, with 7 students presenting their research. Because of the success of the Student Research Poster Sessions in 2025, KNPS is again hosting these sessions at Wildflower Weekend 2026.

Join us to learn about the botanical research Kentucky’s higher education students are conducting during KNPS’s 2nd Wildflower Weekend Student Poster Session! This year we are thrilled that we have 12 students from universities across Kentucky presenting their research. The posters will be displayed in the Woodland Center all day Saturday and you can walk through and enjoy them at your own pace.

There will be two sessions where the students will be with their posters and will be available to discuss their research and answer any questions you may have about them. Student Research Poster Session #1 will be on Saturday, April 18, from 8:00 to 9:00AM and will feature six of the students. Student Research Poster Session #2 will be on Saturday, April 18, from 12:30 to 1:30PM with the second group of six students. The students and their research topics are listed below. You can download a PDF of the full abstracts of all of the poster sessions by clicking on the image to the right.

Student Research Poster Session #1 – Saturday, April 18, 8:00 – 9:00AM

• Alexander Boyken, University of Kentucky
  Influences of Bark pH and Hardness on Epiphytic Lichen Cover among Rural and Urban Central Hardwood Trees
• Will Gibson, University of Kentucky
  Quantifying Habitat Characteristics of Venus Flytraps in Fire-Dominated Longleaf Pine Savanna
• Isabella Gilliam, Morehead State University
  Species/Area Relationships of Lichens and Bryophytes within a Stream Mesohabitat at the Ed Mabry – Laurel Gorge Wildlife Management Area
• Zach Hackworth, University of Kentucky
  Allelopathic Effects of Dahurian Buckthorn (Rhamnus davurica) on Seed Germination
• Ira Hager, Eastern Kentucky University
  Ecology and Seed Germination of Monarda clinopodia
• Savannah Merriman, Morehead State University
  Investigating Species Richness and Beta Diversity of Lichen and Bryophyte Communities within a Stream Mesohabitat of the Ed Mabry-Laurel Gorge Wildlife Management Area in Northeastern Kentucky

Student Research Poster Session #2 – Saturday, April 18, 12:30 – 1:30PM

• Makaya Brashares, University of Kentucky
  Documenting Connections: A Framework For Database Deposition of Molecular Data And Interacting Taxa
• Emily Campbell, University of Kentucky
  Effect of Tornado Damage and Post-Tornado Management on Forest Soil Microbial Communities in South-Central Kentucky
• Patricia Leake, University of Kentucky
  Identifying Bee-Plant Interaction Networks in Diversified Organic Kentucky Farms Using Molecular Tools
• Zoe McComas, University of Kentucky
  The Impact of Emerald Ash Borers and Purple Wintercreeper on Ash Trees in Reforested Urban Sites
• Allison Neltner, University of Kentucky
  Field and Postharvest Production Methods of Natural Yellow and Orange Dyes from Tagetes erecta, Tagetes patula, and Cosmos sulphureus
• Alexandra Taylor, University of Kentucky
  Genetic Diversity of Asteraceae on the University of Kentucky’s Campus

If you are attending Wildflower Weekend 2026 at Natural Bridge SRP, we would love it if you would consider helping out for an hour or two!

Amazingly, we have 80% of our volunteer slots already filled — however, there are still 13 more volunteer slots remaining. If you were considering helping out, now’s the time to sign up!

Volunteer Tasks With Slots Still Available

To sign up for any of these tasks, go to KNPS Wildflower Weekend 2026 – Volunteers

Should you have any questions or need more details about volunteering, feel free to reach out to our WW Volunteer Coordinator, Meaghan Petix (WildflowerWeekend2026@knps.org).

Thank you again for your support – we can’t wait to see everyone at Wildflower Weekend!

To begin Botany Blitz 2026 and Wildflower Week, on Saturday, April 11th and Sunday, April 12th, KNPS will host a series of Kick Off Hikes in parks and natural areas across the Commonwealth.

These mainly easy nature walks will be led by botanizers and naturalists who know the native plant species that will be encountered in each area. As the Kick Off hikes are meant to start the Botany Blitz project, we are hoping that folks who plan to participate will sign up for an iNaturalist account (if they don’t already have one) and join the Botany Blitz 2026 project.

Please fill out the form at the bottom of this page if you are going to participate in one of the First Day hikes. If you have any questions email us at WildflowerWeekend2026@knps.org.

Leading up to Wildflower Weekend will be our week long Botany Blitz 2026, which will run from Saturday, April 11th, through Sunday, April 19th. This is the sixth year for our Botany Blitz, which is an effort to document as many plant species as possible within Kentucky during the week preceding Wildflower Weekend. The Botany Blitz will be again hosted on the community science website iNaturalist, and participants will be using the iNaturalist mobile app (or website, if your preferred camera is not a smartphone!) to upload photos of budding and blooming plants they observe in local parks, state parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and nature preserves.

To participate, log in to your iNaturalist account or sign up for an iNaturalist account if you’re not already a user, and join the Botany Blitz 2026 project (just click “Join” in the top right corner of the project page). Then download the mobile app for iPhone or Android. The app is very easy to use, however we recommend taking a few practice observations to get the hang of it before the Botany Blitz begins! You don’t need to know the identity of a plant to make an observation, since the app provides ID suggestions based on your photos and geographical location. Additionally, the iNaturalist community is comprised of many knowledgeable botanists and naturalists who can review your observations and suggest alternative identifications. At the end of the Botany Blitz, we’ll tally up our combined observations to see how many species we were able to find in 2026!

In 2025 most of our Kickoff Hikes were cancelled due to storms across the Commonwealth. We still had 48 observers who made over 1,896 observations of about 393 plant species. We can do even better this year! Help us make this Botany Blitz the biggest ever!

Of course, you don’t need to wait till the Botany Blitz to start making observations on iNaturalist, and wildflowers across Kentucky are already starting to show their stuff!

For the third year, in the spirit of bringing together creative expression and love for nature, the KNPS Board sponsored a Wildflower Weekend 2026 Logo Design Contest.

Wildflower Weekend 2026 will be held at Natural Bridge SRP. Each year, the KNPS Board selects a native wildflower to be the focus of the Wildflower Weekend logo design. For Wildflower Weekend 2026, the Board has selected the Pink Lady’s Slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule). Pink Lady’s Slipper is a large, showy wildflower belonging to the orchid family. It has two opposite basal leaves with conspicuous parallel veins and a large flower at the end of an erect stalk. The flower is magenta to whitish-pink; sometimes the whitish pink flowers will have darker pink venation. Pink Lady’s Slipper is widely distributed across the eastern United States and eastern to central Canada, from Alabama to the Northwest Territories. In Kentucky it is found in several counties in the eastern part of the state. It can be found in several locations in the Red River Gorge area.

We put out a call to artists and graphic designers who were members of the Kentucky Native Plant Society in early December. The submitted designs were then presented to the KNPS membership for voting during the month of January. The membership of KNPS responded, with 130 members casting a vote. The beautiful logo featured above came out on top as the winning entry. The design, featuring the pink lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule) and a background of Natural Bridge, was submitted by Alexandra Taylor of Lexington, KY. The logo is featured on t-shirts, hoodies, and coffee cups, as well as on all publicity about the event.

Kentucky Native Plant Society’s
Wildflower Weekend 2026
Natural Bridge State Resort Park
Friday, April 17th thru Sunday, April 19th, 2026

The schedule is set and registration is now open for Wildflower Weekend 2026, April 17th-19th, at Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Join nature lovers, families, community scientists, amateur naturalists, and professional botanists from across the commonwealth, as we explore the beauty and diversity of Kentucky’s natural history.

Wildflower Weekend is open to the public and is family friendly. Pre-registration for the weekend is required using the form at the bottom of this page (click here to go to the form). Admission is $10 for adults, $3 for ages 13-17, and free for ages 12 & under. The schedule for the weekend is listed below.

We are offering 31 different hikes this year! In addition to our usual “all things botanical” hikes, we have a couple of hikes concentrating on birds, fungi, general biodiversity, geology, and pollinators. This year we are offering hikes on Sunday morning as well!

We have always tried to make Wildflower Weekend a family-friendly event (kids 12 and under attend free). This year we are offering two kid-centered activities, a wildflower hike on Friday afternoon focusing on how different flower colors attract pollinators, and then on Saturday afternoon, a nature hike with fun botanical activities designed for the young naturalist. Additionally, there are several hikes throughout the weekend for beginner naturalists. We will have a children’s corner at the registration table with coloring activities and scavenger hunt available throughout the weekend. See details in the schedule below. Natural Bridge Resort Park also has a playground, a basketball court, and mini golf.

Are you planning on attending Kentucky Native Plant Society’s Wildflower Weekend 2026 at Natural Bridge SRP next month? Would you like to help make this year’s event a fun-filled, rewarding weekend for all? If you’re interested in helping out, sign up for one (or more) of our volunteer roles!

WW is 100% volunteer-run, and can only be as great as the amount of work our volunteer force puts into it. We need volunteers to help with event set-up/clean-up, check-in/registration, raffle sales, and more!

Many of the remaining slots are 1-hour shifts helping with check-in/registration. The job is not tough, it is mainly looking up people on the registration list and confirming for them the hikes they signed up for. This is a fun job as you get to meet new and old friends who love Kentucky’s native plants as much as you do!

If you’d like to volunteer, please visit the following link to sign up for one of the remaining time slots: Wildflower Weekend 2026 – Volunteer Sign-Ups

Should you have any questions or need more details about volunteering, feel free to reach out to our WW Volunteer Coordinator, Meaghan Petix (WildflowerWeekend2026@knps.org).

Thank you again for your support – we can’t wait to see everyone at Wildflower Weekend!