The KNPS Wildflower Weekend 2026 will be held at Natural Bridge State Resort Park on Friday-Sunday, April 17th & 19th, 2026. The weekend has been a KNPS tradition for over 35 years, and has always been an education focused endeavor for professionals, students, families, and naturalists of all ages.
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. View those posters here: Student Research Poster Sessions
Because of the success of the Student Research Poster Sessions in 2025, KNPS is going to host these sessions again in 2026.
Read about the poster session details and scholarship opportunities in the section below. You can download a PDF of that information here: Student Poster Sessions at KNPS WW2026
We have exciting news for all of our members and friends! KNPS is happy to announce this year’s Wildflower Weekend is scheduled for April 17th -19th, 2026, at Natural Bridge State Resort Park and the Red River Gorge Geological Area!
But wait, there is even more cause for jubilation! This year the Kentucky Native Plant Society is celebrating its 40th Anniversary! In 1986, a small group of botanists came together to form the Kentucky Native Plant Society as an organization dedicated to serving as a medium of fellowship and information exchange among botanists, both amateur and professional, to promote conservation of native plants and natural plant communities of Kentucky, to promote public education in botanical science, and to encourage botanical research in Kentucky. We are excited to celebrate four decades of KNPS with members, friends, and past board members and officers!
The event will include guided hikes Friday afternoon through Sunday, through the Red River Gorge’s beautiful natural areas, student research poster sessions, a Friday Evening Friends & Members Social, and Saturday evening presentations and KNPS Recognition ceremony.
Wildflower Weekend Volunteer Recognition
The Society has always depended on volunteers and the contributions of members and friends to accomplish our goals. Over its 40 years, hundreds of people have volunteered thousands of hours to make KNPS the outstanding organization it is. KNPS Board members serve two year terms helping to make everything the Society does, happen. At this year’s Wildflower Weekend we are going to recognize these committed volunteers. Join on Saturday evening as we recognize all of those who have generously contributed their passion, knowledge, time and labor to the society!
It takes almost 100 people to make Wildflower Weekend successful each year! If you are interested in volunteering for Wildflower Weekend 2026, please visit our Volunteer Opportunities with KNPS page.
Wildflower Weekend 2026 Logo Contest
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. Submissions to the logo contest can be made here until January 16th, 2026.
Leading up to Wildflower Weekend 2026, at Natural Bridge SRP, KNPS will be holding our 6th annual Botany Blitz 2026, which will run from Saturday, April 11th, through Sunday, April 19th. The spring Botany Blitz is a group effort to document as many plant species as possible within Kentucky during the week preceding Wildflower Weekend, and will again be hosted on the community science platform iNaturalist. Participants can use the iNaturalist mobile app in the field (or use the website if your preferred camera is not a smartphone!) to document their observations of Kentucky’s flora.
As in previous years, Botany Blitz 2026 will commence with a series of Kick Off Hikes on Saturday, April 11th and Sunday, April 12th, in parks and natural areas across the Commonwealth. These easygoing wildflower walks are led by local botanizers and naturalists who are familiar with the native flora that hikers will encounter. As the Kick Off Hikes are meant to start the Botany Blitz, 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, although you do not need to be an iNaturalist user to enjoy these hikes.
Call for Kick Off Hike Leaders
Although we have several Kick Off Hikes in the planning process, we are seeking more hike locations and hike leaders! If you would like to lead a Kick Off Hike in your area, please fill out and submit the form below. All hike details are up to you, the hike leader, to choose, however we have a few suggestions to guide you:
Before selecting a hike location, we recommend that you visit the official website for that location or contact the owning agency/organization to check if there are any rules or guidance regarding larger groups of hikers.
Please also consider the amount of parking at the site, the typical weekend visitation levels during peak wildflower season, and the maximum number of participants you want to set. You may want to avoid choosing locations with limited parking that can fill up quickly on weekend days.
We also recommend arranging for a friend to co-lead the hike with you. A co-lead can assist you in keeping your the group together on the trail, watch the clock to help you stay on schedule (wildflower walks are notorious for running long!), and help guide any hikers that need to leave early back to the trailhead.
If you have any questions or if you need to change any hike details after you’ve submitted this form, please email us at WildflowerWeekend2026@knps.org.
If you are willing to lead a KNPS Botany Blitz Kick Off Hike on April 11th or 12th, 2026, please submit the following information.
KNPS volunteers removing invasive bush honeysuckle in Franklin County.
The Kentucky Native Plant Society (KNPS) is dedicated to serving as a medium of fellowship and information exchange among botanists, both amateur and professional, to promote conservation of native plants and natural plant communities of Kentucky, promote public education in botanical science, and encourage botanical research in Kentucky.
The Society has always depended on volunteers and the contributions of members and friends to accomplish our goals. Over its 40 years, hundreds of people have volunteered thousands of hours to make KNPS the outstanding organization it is.
Volunteering can be the best part of KNPS membership—you will meet the most interesting people and feel a sense of accomplishment as you join others to support the Society and the native plants and plant communities of Kentucky. We have volunteer activities to suit every interest and energy level that are compatible with all lifestyles, with volunteer work ranging from 2-hour shifts to 2-year officer terms. Simply put, we cannot do this without the generous donations of time by people like you!
Experience has shown that the members and friends of KNPS are always willing to step up and volunteer their time to the Society. If you’ve ever wondered how you can get more involved, now is the perfect time!
To make it easier than ever to get involved, KNPS has created a new Volunteer Opportunities page. This page highlights current needs, describes a variety of ways to help, and makes it simple to find a role that fits your interests and availability. Just click on the link below.
Wednesday, January 14th, 2026, 9:00AM-12:00PM EST, Virtual and Free
“Coming Together to Discuss Current Botany Projects, Conservation, and Collaboration in Kentucky and Beyond“
White Haired Goldenrod (Solidago albopilosa) – Photo courtesy of John MacGregor
The Kentucky Native Plant Society (KNPS) and the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP) is co-hosting the 5th annual Virtual Kentucky Botanical Symposium on Wednesday, January 14th, from 9:00AM-12:00PM EST. For ten years, KNPS has organized a botanical symposium with a goal of bringing together professionals, community scientists, academics, researchers, gardeners, and students to learn about what is going on in the world of Kentucky botany and beyond.
This year, speakers and facilitators include Kendall McDonald, President of KNPS facilitating the meeting and speaking about OKNP’s Kentucky Forest Biodiversity Assessment Program, Jeff Nelson, Immediate Past President of KNPS providing a KNPS update, Tara Littlefield, of the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves on the state of Kentucky plant conservation, Tony Romano of OKNP speaking about the Kentucky Roadside Conservation Program, Joey Shaw of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga providing an update on the Tennessee-Kentucky Plant Atlas, and our keynote speaker Dr. Wesley Knapp, CEO of the Center for Plant Conservation.
If you are an artist or graphic designer, we would love for you to consider entering the Wildflower Weekend 2026 Logo Design Contest. This is an open design contest to come up with a logo for Wildflower Weekend 2026 (April 17-18 at Natural Bridge SRP). The logo will be used on t-shirts, hoodies, and coffee cups, as well as on all publicity about the event. The submitted designs will be presented to the KNPS membership for voting and the winner will be awarded $200 and be recognized on the KNPS website.
In June of 2022, a KNPS member posted the image on the right on the KNPS Facebook group page of a t-shirt she had found in a thrift store. Asking among several longtime members, it turns out that in the 1990s, and into the early 2000’s, KNPS produced t-shirts for each Wildflower Weekend. The KNPS Board decided to bring back this great tradition for Wildflower Weekend 2023.
The Board asked KNPS vice-president Kendall MacDonald to design a logo for the 2023 Wildflower Weekend. The beautiful image she created featured the yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) with Cumberland Falls as the background. The image was used in all publicity for the event and was also featured on an adult t-shirt, a coffee mug, a kid’s t-shirt, and an adult hoodie that were available for sale in our KNPS Gear Shop.
Jeff Nelson in a field of tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) in McCracken County.
As Fall winds down and the Winter Solstice fast approaches, this time of year is one of reflection and consideration of the year that is passing and the year to come. In 2026, the Kentucky Native Plant Society will be 40 years old. In 1986, several prominent botanists in the state came together to found a society dedicated to serving as a medium of fellowship and information exchange among botanists, both amateur and professional, to promote conservation of the native plants and natural plant communities of Kentucky, to promote public education in botanical science, and to encourage botanical research in Kentucky.
In the decades since it was founded, KNPS has grown to be a statewide organization of over 600 active members. It has introduced and educated thousands of Kentuckians to the importance and beauty of the state’s native plants and plant communities. Every year, more and more of our neighbors are planting native species for their beauty and, even more importantly, for their value to native butterflies, moths, bees, birds, and other wildlife. It seems that every week one hears or sees stories in the media about the native plant movement. We believe that the efforts of the Kentucky Native Plant Society, and native plant societies in other states, over the past 40 years have played no small part in this growth of interest in native plants.
