by Heidi Braunreiter, KNPS Vice President & Jeff Nelson, KNPS President
From April 8th through the 10th, over 100 native plant enthusiasts came together to enjoy KNPS’ first, in-person, Wildflower Weekend since 2019. Although temperatures were cool and skies were damp at Natural Bridge SRP, spirits were high as folks dressed for the weather and enjoyed 14 different native plant walks led by an incredible group of expert botanists. Saturday night, a large group of KNPS members and friends met in the Woodland Center for presentations by Ted Brancheau, Nick Koenig, and the keynote speaker, Mike Homoya.
Wildflower Walks
Beginning at noon on Friday and ending Sunday morning, fourteen wildflower walks, led by some of the best botanists in the country, explored the amazing diversity of the plant communities in Natural Bridge SRP and the Red River Gorge. Here’s some shots from the walks.
Carolina Vetch (Vicia carolina)
Red trillium (Trillium erectum)
Search for sweet pinesap.
Sweet pinesap (Monotropsis odorata)
Striped wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata)
Virginia pennywort (Obolaria virginica)
Bishop’s cap (Mitella diphylla)
Members & Friends Friday Evening Campfire
Woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata)
Trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens)
Downy serviceberry(Amelanchier arborea)
Lichen walk
Cranefly orchid (Tipularia discolor)
Long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata)
Rock Bridge Trail
Discussions about next year’s Wildflower Weekend 2023 are already happening. Dates and the location are not set yet, but be thinking about the first half of April as the general time-frame. If you have any thoughts about how the event could be made better, we would love to hear from you. If you would like to lead or co-lead a walk next year, let us know. KYPlants@knps.org.
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.
“Coming Together to Discuss Current Botany Projects: Conservation and Collaboration in Kentucky and Beyond”
On Wednesday, December 8, KNPS held our second virtual Botanical Symposium. Close to 90 folks were able to attend online to hear and see several presentations about our native plants and plant communities. We know that there are many who would have liked to participate, but were not able to do so. Here are videos of all of the presentations.
On Saturday, Oct. 23, KNPS held a virtual Fall Member meeting. The meeting was a review of what the Society has done in the past year and we discussed upcoming activities for the rest of 2021 and for 2022. View the full meeting here.
Please join us for the 2021 KNPS Fall Meeting on October 23, from 4PM to 5:30PM EDT. We will be meeting virtually again this year on Zoom (hopefully our last virtual Fall Meeting). Our fall meetings are open to members and non-members alike. The meeting will review what the Society has done in the past year and discuss activities for the rest of 2021 and for 2022. As the meeting is on Zoom, please register by following the link at the bottom of this article. If you want to learn more about your Society the KNPS Fall Meeting is for you. If you have any questions, email us at KYPlants@knps.org.
Meeting Agenda
4:00PM to 4:25PM – Welcome and Review of 2021
Welcome – Tara Littlefield
Wildflower Week 2021 – Heidi Braunreiter
2021 Field Trips – Tara Littlefield
The Lady Slipper – Susan Harkins
Student Grants – David Taylor
Financial Report – Steele McFadden
Membership Report – Jeff Nelson
KNPS Board Secretary – Tara Littlefield
4:25PM to 4:40PM – Botanical Symposia – Tara Littlefield
5:00PM to 5:30PM – Standing Committees & Member Engagement – Jeff Nelson
Registration
As the meeting will be virtual, registration is required. Complete the registration form at this link and you will receive a link to the virtual meeting.
KNPS is hosting a virtual botanical symposium on Wednesday, December 8th from 9AM-12PM EST. For several years, KNPS has organized a botanical symposium in the fall/winter with a goal of bringing together professionals, citizen scientists, academics, gardeners and students in order to learn about what’s going on in the world of Kentucky Botany. Please join us to learn about all things botanical in Kentucky and the surrounding region.
Topics that will be covered will include, but will not be limited to, KNPS updates, plant conservation alliance updates, conservation horticulture and native plant propagation; monitoring and managing native and rare plants and natural communities,; native plant research; plant biodiversity in Kentucky and the surrounding regions and exciting new botanical discoveries.
In anticipation of being able to hold in-person meetings again, KNPS would like you to save the date for Wildflower Weekend 2022. The next annual event will be held April 9th -10th 2022 at the Natural Bridge State Resort Park in Slade, Kentucky.
