The Lady Slipper Archives - Page 31 of 50 - Kentucky Native Plant Society

Kick-off BotanyBlitz 2022 with an inaturalist Tutorial Hike!

Have you ever struggled to identify plants seen on hikes, or wished for an expert’s opinion on identifying a wildflower? The iNaturalist platform and mobile app is a great tool for connecting nature enthusiasts and sharing knowledge, and is a social network used by both amateur naturalists and professional biologists around the world. The app uses AI technology to offer identification suggestions based on your photos, and other users can help determine if that ID is correct. Observations made on iNaturalist not only help you learn more about the natural world around you, they can be useful to ecological research, conservation efforts, and natural resource management.

To educate the public about iNaturalist and to promote the KNPS Wildflower Week BotanyBlitz iNaturalist Project (April 2nd-April 9th), several tutorial hikes will be led by experienced iNaturalist users across the state. These hikes will be geared towards beginner iNaturalist users and will teach you how to make observations and navigate the app. Please make sure to download the iNaturalist app to your mobile phone and create an iNaturalist user account before attending the hike!

Friday, April 1st:

These hikes have their own separate registration. Follow the link or email the address at the end of the hike description to register.

4:00 PM EDT Taylor Fork Ecological Station, Richmond KY: Easy walk on grass trails. Kickoff the iNaturalist tutorial hikes and KNPS BotanyBlitz with Eastern Kentucky University Division of Natural Areas staff on a spring walk through this wildlife management area. Meet and Park at the Taylor Fork Ecological Station parking area (1 Hancock Taylor Ln, Richmond, KY 40475).

3:00 PM EDT Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, Lexington KY: 1 miles, easy to moderate walk. Join staff of Raven Run and Floracliff nature sanctuaries for this hands-on demonstration using iNaturalist in the field at Raven Run. In addition to exploring the basics of iNaturalist, there will be information on the City Nature challenge. Park at the Raven Run parking lot and meet at the Raven Run Visitor’s center (3885 Raven Run Wy, Lexington, KY 40515).

Saturday, April 2nd:

10:00 AM EDT Ashland-The Henry Clay Estate, Lexington KY: 0.5 miles, easy walk. Join Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves Botanist, Heidi Braunreiter, on a walk through the mulched pathways of the Henry Clay Estate. Park in the Estate parking lot and meet at the Gingko Tree Café (120 Sycamore Rd, Lexington, KY 40502). For those interested, stick around after the walk to help pull wintercreeper surrounding the rare Running Buffalo Clover populations.

10:00 AM CDT Cedar Sink Trail, Mammoth Cave National Park, Park City KY: 2 miles, easy walk, out and back trail. Learn with Mammoth Cave naturalists Steve Kistler, Janet Kistler, and Carol Friedman on this trail with a wide variety of spring wildflowers and impressive rock formations. Park and meet at the Cedar Sink Trail Parking Lot (Park Boundary Rd, Brownsville, KY 42210).

10:00 AM EDT Eagle Scout Trail, Nancy KY: 2.8 miles, moderate walk, out and back trail. Walk with Tyler Adams, amateur naturalist, through a gently sloping trail along Lake Cumberland. Park and meet at the Eagle Scout Trailhead parking area (Cr-1493N, Nancy, KY 42544).

10:00 AM CDT Greenway Trail-Disc Golf Course, Stuart Nelson Park, Paducah KY: 0.5 miles easy walk. Join Kentucky Native Plant Society board member Jeff Nelson and OKNP volunteer Bob Dunlap on an easy hike around a beautiful park in heart of Paducah. Park in the parking lot and meet at the west end of the park, where the Greenway Trail enters the Disc Golf Course (175 Stuart Nelson Park Rd Paducah KY 42001).

8:00 AM CDT Hematite Lake Trail, Land Between the Lakes (LBL) National Recreation Area, Eddyville KY: 2.5 miles, easy walk, loop trail. Walk with Murray State graduate student Gage Barnes along the banks of Hematite Lake and see a mix of woodland and aquatic loving plant species. Meet and park at the Hematite Lake Trailhead (Forest Service Rd 176 Eddyville, KY 42038).

10:00 AM EDT Pine Creek Barrens Nature Preserve, Shepherdsville KY: 1.5 miles, easy loop trail. Join Kentucky Native Plant society member Alan Abbott on a spring barrens walk through the preserve, just a short drive from Louisville, KY. Meet and park in the Pine Creek Barrens parking area (1264 Pine Creek Trail, Shepherdsville, KY 40165).

10:00 AM EDT Sky Bridge Loop Trail, Red River Gorge, Pine Ridge KY: 1.3 miles, easy walk, loop trail. Take a walk with naturalist Barbara Graham on this forested arch trail where filmy fern is a star attraction and learn about fire-dependent ridge top plants. Park and meet at the Skybridge Parking area (end of Sky Bridge Rd, Pine Ridge, KY 41360).

10:00 AM EDT St. Anne Woods and Wetlands, Melbourne KY: 0.7 miles, easy walk, loop trail. Join Northern Kentucky University professor, Dr. Maggie Whitson, and Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves botanists Vanessa Voelker and Kendall McDonald, on this walk through the wetlands and floodplain of the Ohio River. Trails may be muddy, so choose footwear accordingly. Park and meet at the St. Anne Convent visitor parking lot (off Mary Ingles Hwy, Melbourne, KY 41059).

2:00 PM EDT Lilley Cornett Woods Appalachian Ecological Research Center, Hallie KY: Easy walk. Learn with Eastern Kentucky University Division of Natural Areas staff on a spring walk through one of Kentucky’s old growth forests as a part of LCW’s Wildflower Weekend. Meet and Park at the Lilley Cornett Woods Visitor Center (91 Lilley Cornett Branch, Hallie, Kentucky 4182).

10:00 AM & 1:00 PM EDT Red Maple and White Oak Trails, Louisville Nature Center, Louisville KY: Learn all about iNaturalist with Louisville Nature Center staff in this natural area without ever leaving the city. There will be 2 walks, limited to 10 participants per walk. Meet and park at the Louisville Nature center (3745 Illinois Ave, 40212). The walks will cost $15 for non-members of the Louisville Nature Center.

Become Part of BotanyBlitz 2022!

BotanyBlitz on iNaturalist – April 2nd – 9th

In 20 days, naturalists and botanizers across the Commonwealth of Kentucky will be participating in BotanyBlitz 2022, held in conjunction with Wildflower Weekend 2022. This is the second year we’ll be holding our week-long BotanyBlitz, which is an effort to document as many plant species as possible within Kentucky between April 2-9. As it was last year, the BotanyBlitz will be hosted on the community science website, iNaturalist, and participants will be using the iNaturalist mobile app and website to upload photos of budding and blooming plants they observe in local parks, state parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and nature preserves.

A BotanyBlitz is community-science event that focuses on finding and identifying as many plant species We encourage anyone interested to sign up for an iNaturalist account if you’re not already a user, and join the BotanyBlitz project (just click “Join” in the top right corner of the project page), and download the mobile app for iPhone or Android. But of course, you don’t need to wait till the BotanyBlitz to start making observations on iNaturalist, and wildflowers across Kentucky are already starting to show their stuff. Let’s take a look at how the wildflower situation is shaping up thus far.

In Kentucky on iNaturalist, the first three blooming native wildflowers this year were Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) and Purple Cress (Cardamine douglassii)!

In first place, a startlingly early Spring Beauty was spotted by @gage_barnes at the Hancock Biological Station the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, December 31. Although this observation technically occurred in 2021, we’re counting it as a 2022 sighting since it was made a mere 9 hours prior to the new year.

A New Year’s Eve Spring Beauty, perfectly happy to show up early to the party, observed by @gage_barnes

In second place, another Spring Beauty was again spotted at the Hancock Biological Station, this time on January 31 by @fhincks.

Another Spring Beauty in the chilly days of late January, observed by @fhinks

And in third place, the first Purple Cress observation of the year appeared a mere two weeks later on February 15 at Floracliff Nature Sanctuary in Lexington, observed by @ky2c2t.

Purple Cress finally making an appearance, observed by @ky2c2t

As the days continue to warm up, we’re seeing more obervations of both Spring Beauty and Purple Cress, as well as the aptly named Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa), a hint of Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale), Hepaticas (Hepatica acutiloba and H. americana), Bluets (Houstonia pusilla and H. caerulea), and Virginia Saxifrage (Micranthes virginiensis), as well as a variety non-native (but still cute!) annual weeds. It’s just a matter of time before the rest of Kentucky’s spring wildflowers start to erupt out of the soil, so keep those observations coming and join us April 2-9 for a week of intensive wildflower-spotting!

2022 Kentucky Botanists Big Year project on iNaturalist

If you’re an iNaturalist user (or want to become one!) and a native plant fanatic, KNPS would like to invite you to join the fourth annual Kentucky Botanists Big Year project!

A Botanists Big Year is a personal challenge or a friendly competition to observe and identify as many plant species as possible in a single year. The rules for the challenge are simple:
1) Observations must be of a plant – native or non-native, vascular or non-vascular, everything in Kingdom Plantae counts!
2) Observations must occur within the Commonwealth of Kentucky
3) Observations must be between January 1 – December 31, 2022
4) Observations must reach “Research Grade” status (this is when at least 2/3 of identifiers reach a consensus on a species ID)

To join the project, simply log in or sign up to iNaturalist, then visit the Kentucky Botanists Big Year project page and click “Join” in the top right corner.

The top five participants in the categories of Most Species, Most Observations, and Most Identifications will win KNPS swag, as well as the glory of victory! Naturalists and enthusiasts of any skill level are encouraged to join up: Big Year projects are a fantastic way to document and remember interesting plants you saw, learn how to identify them, and connect with other naturalists in the state. We hope to see you and your observations out there!

Winter Creeper Pull at Ashland- The Henry Clay Estate

Join us April 2nd at 11am EDT as we pull winter-creeper from populations of running buffalo clover at Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate in Lexington following the iNaturalist tutorial hike. To learn more about running buffalo clover, click here. You do not need to partake in the iNaturalist tutorial hike to help pull winter creeper, but you are welcome to! Bring a knee pad and gardening gloves if you have them. We will meet next to the Gingko Cafe. If you wish to join in, please email Heidi Braunreiter, heidi.braunreiter@ky.gov.

The “Lost Crops”: Native Plants & Early Agriculture in KY

By Alicia Bosela, owner of Ironweed Native Plant Nursery

At the nursery, an inquisitive couple wanted native plants for their new cabin home: “We’d like plants that our grandmothers would’ve had.” To their surprise, I asked, “Which grandmother?” meaning a couple generations ago or when most plants at hand were still native?

Ethnobotany is the study of the interrelations between people and plants in the past. Beginning in roughly 1000AD the three sisters: corn, beans, and squash were the primary crops used by indigenous people of North America. They reached the Midwest from Mexico and became the dominant crops. Before 1000AD, during the Woodland period, crops were also grown but they were developed from native plants. These native plants still exist today, though in wild form.

The Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC) refers to a geographic area centered on the Mississippi River and encompassing all adjoining states. Kentucky is at the core of that geographic area. The EAC is one center of domestication in the pre-historic world in which domesticated native plants were largely abandoned in favor of corn, hence, “the lost crops.”

A handful of native plants were domesticated including little barley, village goosefoot, upright knotweed, marsh elder, and Carolina maygrass. Though special, these plants are not remotely ornamental. Interesting research is being done to understand many questions about their domestication and use. As a tie in, foragers and those interested in wild edibles might enjoy a detailed talk by Dr. Natalie Mueller of Cornell University. A few in the “local food” movement have begun to experiment with these plants in their dishes.

Marsh elder. Photo credit: USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database.

Perhaps these plants have value in Environmental Education, introducing an appreciation of early agriculture to folks, young and old. Might there be a use someday for these plants for those interested in sustainability? Regardless, the inquisitive couple who visited the nursery for native plants used by their grandmother have a colorful array of options and a marvelous starting point to explore on our natural heritage over an expanse of time.

Plants mention in this article

Little barley (Hordeum pusillum)

Village goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri)

Upright knotweed (Polygonum erectum)

Marsh elder (Iva annua)

Carolina maygrass (Phalaris caroliniana)

Alicia Bosela owns Ironweed Native Plant Nursery in Columbia Kentucky, a certified woman-owned business. Before opening her own nursery, she was the Assistant Director of Clay Hill Memorial Forest Environmental Education Center. You can contact her at www.ironweednursery.com.

Wildflower Weekend 2022

2022 Wildflower Weekend & BotanyBlitz

For over 30 years the Kentucky Native Plant Society, in partnership with Natural Bridge State Resort Park, has held a Wildflower Weekend at the park, offering wildflower hikes, as well as evening presentations. In 2020, due to COVID-19, we were forced to cancel Wildflower Weekend for the first time ever. Last year, with the pandemic still disrupting in-person activities, we all participated in a virtual Wildflower Week.

This year we are incredibly excited to be going back to an in-person Wildflower Weekend, April 8th-10th at Natural Bridge State Resort Park. This year’s Wildflower Week will be a hybrid of in-person and online activities. The week prior to Wildflower Weekend, we will be hosting an online, week-long BotanyBlitz on iNaturalist from April 2nd-9th.

Wildflower Weekend 2022 at Natural Bridge SRP

KNPS’ 2022 Wildflower Weekend is scheduled for April 8, 9, & 10. The weekend will offer wildflower hikes Friday and Saturday, led by some of the best botanists in the state. These hikes will explore the region’s rich natural history and resources in the state park and the Red River Gorge. Friday evening there will be a campfire social gathering at the group campsite near the Middle Fork Campground to meet your fellow native plant enthusiasts. Our Saturday night the keynote speaker will be Mike Homoya, former Indiana State Botanist/Plant Ecologist and author of numerous excellent botanical field guides. His presentation is titled, “Rare Plant and Natural Communities along the Ohio River, from Cincinnati to the Mississippi River.”

We are still in the process of lining up folks for the wildflower hikes. We are also looking for folks to help the hike leaders so that we can allow for more people on each hike. If you are interested in leading or helping on a hike, please send us an email at WildflowerWeekend2022@knps.org.

This event is open to the public and kid-friendly. Admission is $10 for adults, $3 for ages 13-17, and free for ages 12 & under.

As COVID-19 will still be a concern, we will be making every effort to minimize potential exposure for everyone:

Pre-registration: attendees will be able pre-register for the event as well as the guided hikes. This will better help us make arrangements for social distancing, as well as reduce crowding at hikes. Pre-registration will be opened online several weeks before Wildflower Weekend. Members of KNPS will be allowed to register before the registration is opened to the general public.
Meet-up locations for hikes: each hike will have a separate designated meeting point outside of the lodge, and we ask that everyone head straight to those outdoor locations rather than congregating together in the lodge lobby.
Social distancing: as much as possible, we will keep our group interactions outdoors. However for the Saturday evening presentations in the Woodland Center, we will reduce the number of chairs and spread them out so folks can easily socially distance.
Masks: in all cases, we will abide by the public health rules of our host, Natural Bridge SRP. To that end, we request that folks wear masks when indoors.

We appreciate your help in keeping this event as safe as it can be!

BotanyBlitz 2022 on iNaturalist

Leading up to Wildflower Weekend will be our week long BotanyBlitz, which will run from Saturday, April 2, through Saturday, April 9, and be hosted on the iNaturalist website. A BotanyBlitz is a community-science event that focuses on finding and identifying as many plant species as possible within a designated location and time period. At the end of the week, the observations of all participants will be tallied and awards given for Most Species Observed and Most Observations.

Beginning on Saturday, April 2, we are encouraging everyone to visit parks and natural areas throughout the Commonwealth, to find and photograph native plants (with an emphasis on those in bloom), and upload them to our BotanyBlitz project. Expert botanists and people with a keen identifying eye will be watching the observations roll in and can help with ID tips and tricks, so if you love wildflowers but aren’t always sure how to identify them, this project is definitely for you!

If you are interested in participating in this community science project but are unfamiliar with iNaturalist, we can help. On Saturday, April 2, at the beginning of the KNPS Wildflower Week BotanyBlitz, several iNaturalist tutorial hikes will be held at parks across Kentucky. These hikes will be lead by local botanizers who are also experienced iNaturalist users, who will demonstrate the basics of the app. Groups will then set out on an easy nature walk to practice uploading iNat observations, troubleshoot questions when possible, and of course, admire the wildflowers. We will open registration for these walks in early March. Members of KNPS will be allowed to register before the registration is opened to the general public. In the meantime, make sure to download the iNaturalist app and create a user account!

We have set up a page for Wildflower Weekend 2022 & BotanyBlitz 2022 where we will post the most current information about the events over the next several weeks. Be sure to visit the page and bookmark it!

If you have any questions about Wildflower Weekend or the BotanyBlitz, send us an email at WildflowerWeekend2022@knps.org Hope to see you in April.

iNaturalist Tutorial Hikes

Kick-off BotanyBlitz with an iNaturalist Tutorial Hike!

Have you ever struggled to identify plants outdoors or ever wanted a second opinion? The phone app iNaturalist is a great tool for all levels of plant and nature enthusiasts! It is an online social network for amateur naturalists and professional biologists around the world. Posts of plant photos, also known as observations, made on iNaturalist are not only informative for you, but for many professional biologists who use this app to track plant and animal species. The app will suggest plant identifications based on your photos and other users can help determine if that ID is correct.

As a lead-up to KNPS’s Wildflower Weekend and the 2022 BotanyBlitz, there will be kickoff tutorials at Taylor Fork Natural Area and Raven Run Nature Sanctuary on April 1st, followed by a number of iNaturalist tutorial hikes held across the state on Saturday, April 2nd. These tutorial hikes will led by experienced iNaturalist users. The hikes will be geared towards beginner iNaturalist users and will teach you how to make observations and navigate the app. You will need to have the app iNaturalist downloaded to your phone and an account created beforehand in order to participate and learn. Hikes will vary in length from 0.5 mile to 3 miles.

We will be asking folks to register for the hikes so hike leaders will know how many participants to expect. As we are still in the process of setting up the hikes, registration will open in early March and will be announced in the March Lady Slipper.

Hike Location	Hike Leader(s)
APRIL 1ST
Taylor Fork Ecological Area, Richmond KY	EKU Division of Natural Areas
Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, Lexington KY	Staff of Raven Run and Floracliff nature sanctuaries

APRIL 2ND
Ashland-The Henry Clay Estate, Lexington KY	Heidi Braunreiter
Cedar Sink Trail, Mammoth Cave National Park, Park City KY	Steve Kistler, Janet Kistler, and Carol Friedman
Eagle Scout Trail, Nancy KY	Tyler Adams
Greenway Trail, Stuart Nelson Park, Paducah KY	Jeff Nelson & Bob Dunlap
Hematite Lake Trail, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, Eddyville KY	Gage Barnes
Lilley Cornet Woods Appalachian Ecological Research Station, Hallie KY	EKU Division of Natural Areas
Pine Creek Barrens, Shepherdsville KY	Alan Abbott
Red Maple and White Oak Trails at the Louisville Nature Center, Louisville KY	Louisville Nature Center Staff
Sky Bridge Loop Trail, Red River Gorge, Pine Ridge KY	Barbara Graham
St. Anne Woods and Wetlands, Melbourne KY	Dr. Maggie Whitson, Kendall McDonald, and Vanessa Voelker

lf you are already an experienced iNaturalist user and are interested in leading a tutorial hike in your area, please contact: WildflowerWeekend2022@knps.org.