by Jeff Nelson, KNPS President
On August 2nd & 3rd, 2025, Kentucky Native Plant Society enjoyed being part of the 29th annual Hummingbird Festival at the Woodlands Nature Station in the Land Between the Lakes, in Trigg County. For 29 years, the Hummingbird Fest has celebrated the beauty of hummingbirds, plants, and pollinators at the Woodlands Nature Station! With as many as two hundred hummingbirds a day passing through the Nature Station’s backyard, August is a great time to see the ruby-throated hummingbird.
Woodlands Nature Station staff, scientists, local artisans, native plant sellers, other conservation organizations, and KNPS had booths in the Nature Station’s backyard. Almost 2,000 visitors over 2 days came through to watch hummers and butterflies and other pollinators buzzing about the native gardens, got an up-close look at the hummingbird banding station, learned how to create habitat in their own backyard, shopped for native plants and avian inspired art, and enjoyed games and crafts with the kids!
KNPS had never done this event before and since I live down in McCracken county, a short distance from the LBL, I felt we should have a KNPS booth at Hummingbird Fest 2025. Everything that the Kentucky Native Plant Society does is done by dozens of volunteers who give hundreds of hours of their time each year to make our Society’s activities happen. This event was no exception. Our Volunteer Coordinator, Meaghan Petix, put out a call for a few folks to help with tabling. KNPS members, Bonnie Koblitz and Al & Sue Lake stepped up and helped Festival visitors learn about the Kentucky Native Plant Society and its mission to promote education, preservation, and protection of our native plants and native plant communities. Every year, we get invitations to set up a booth at conservation oriented events around Kentucky. If you think you might be interested in helping out at such events when they occur in your neighborhood, just send an email to Volunteers@knps.org .
Favored with wonderful, early August weather, we enjoyed spending time with hundreds of visitors that were interested in learning about native plants in Kentucky. It was great that our table was set up next to Ironweed Native Plant nursery. They had many of the plants we discussed with folks for sale in their booth. To focus our discussions, we prepared a handout, “Kentucky Native Plants to Attract and Feed Hummingbirds”. You can download a copy of the handout by clicking on the image next to this text.