As we enter 2026, KNPS has transitioned into a new term with new officers. As your new KNPS President, I would like to introduce myself to all of you!
My name is Kendall McDonald, and I am a lifelong Kentuckian from the rural central bluegrass. My love for nature started early, as I explored the tributaries of Elkhorn Creek and the Kentucky River with my family. As I grew older, my love for nature was mostly expressed through painting, photography and continuing to play in the creek. I attended Morehead State University, where I focused on botany and lichens in my coursework and research. As a research student I conducted a lichen inventory of the Eagle Lake watershed.
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.
The Natural Areas Association (NAA) has named Heidi Braunreiter, Prescribed Fire Program Coordinator for the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP), as recipient of the 2025 Rising Leader Award for her advancements toward ecological health in Kentucky.
Braunreiter currently serves on the KNPS Executive Board as a Director and is Treasurer for the Kentucky Prescribed Fire Council. She has been with KNPS since 2017, previously as Secretary and Vice-President. Additionally, she is a certified Burn Boss: an expert in the science of controlled fire.
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.
I’m so excited to join KNPS as Managing Editor! Kentucky soil is chock-full of some of the most fascinating species, and I can’t wait to talk about them together.
First, I want to give a huge thanks to Susan Harkins, the previous Managing Editor, for her care of this great newsletter. I’m glad she’ll be sticking with us as an Associate Editor!
To introduce myself, I thought I’d share some of my favorite plant-finding moments in Kentucky over the last several years.
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.
Get ready and be observant on these cold mornings. We are now entering the time of year when we will begin seeing one of Nature’s loveliest and most evanescent phenomenons in our region; Frost Flowers.
What are Frost Flowers?
Frost flowers are thin ribbons of ice that form on the stems of a few species of native plants. Water from the roots is drawn up the stems (either as part of the plant’s natural transportation system or through capillary action) and expands as it freezes, breaking the stem walls and creating a flow of ice. As the ice forms, more water freezes, forcing out ribbons of thin ice . Other names for these structures are “ice flowers”, “ice ribbons”, “ice fringes”, “ice filaments”, and “rabbit ice”.
Conditions Needed for Frost Flowers to Form
Frost flowers form only when certain very specific conditions all come together:
Air temperatures must be below freezing (usually below 30°).
There should be little to no wind.
Ground temperatures must still be above freezing.
There must be some degree of soil moisture.
They only form on particular species of plants.
If conditions are right, the same plants can produce multiple frost flowers in a season, starting as early as November and producing frost flowers as late as early February. Usually the first frost flowers of the year will extend quite a ways up the stem, without extending out very far, as the entire stem splits. By the end of the season, when the stems are completely shredded, the frost flowers come out from the very base of the plant.
What Plants Produce Frost Flowers?
Worldwide, there are roughly 30 species of plants that produce frost flowers. In our region there are three native species that typically produce frost flowers. The two most common are white crownbeard, a.k.a. frostweed (Verbesina virginica) and common dittany (Cunila origanoides). A third species, that is mainly in wet areas, is marsh fleabane (Pluchea camphorata). I have heard that frost flowers sometimes appear on species of sage (Salvia) but I have never seen that and don’t know for sure what species of sage may produce frost flowers.
Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) Perennial herb, 3-7 ft. tall with winged stems. Leaves are alternate, broadly lanceolate, 4-8 in. long, with winged petioles. Flowers August – October
Dittany (Cunila origanoides) Semi-woody perennial, 12-18 in. tall with a strong odor. Leaves are opposite, oval, 1-1 1/2 in. long. Flowers August – October
Marsh Fleabane (Pluchea camphorata) Short lived perennial, 2-5 ft. tall with a camphor like odor. Leaves are alternate, broadly lanceolate, 3-10 in. long. Flowers August – September
Grow Your Own Frost Flowers
Although it is always exciting to find frost flowers in the “wild” another option for folks is to plant one of the natives that produce this phenomena in the yard. My frostweed patch came from a single plant that volunteered in the front yard about 6 years ago. It has reseeded itself and now many others have sprouted from the seeds of the original. On cold mornings I can now just look out the front window and see the frost flowers.
