For the third year, in the spirit of bringing together creative expression and love for nature, the KNPS Board sponsored a Wildflower Weekend 2026 Logo Design Contest.
We put out a call to artists and graphic designers who were members of the Kentucky Native Plant Society in early December. The submitted designs were then presented to the KNPS membership for voting during the month of January. The membership of KNPS responded, with 110 members casting a vote. The beautiful logo featured above came out on top as the winning entry. The above design, featuring the pink lady’s slipper, was submitted by Alexandra Taylor of Scott Co., KY!
Alexandra Taylor, Winner
Alexandra Taylor, originally from Milwaukee, WI, is an Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology major, Horticultural Science minor at the University of Kentucky. She is also the Vice President of the UK Horticulture Club. Alexandra has experience in the native plant nursery and landscaping industry and grew a deep passion for botany and plant conservation. She plans to pursue conservation genetics and horticulture as a career. Alexandra spends her time hiking, photographing birds and plants, and volunteering for the Kentucky Native Plant Society and OKNP. When she’s home in WI, she performs rare plant surveys for the Wisconsin DNR’s Rare Plant Monitoring Program.
Alexandra is honored to showcase her love of native plants through her art, and to have had her piece be chosen by the membership to be the face of this year’s Wildflower Weekend.
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.
This was an open design contest to come up with a logo for Wildflower Weekend 2026 (April 17-19 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.
Other Wildflower Weekend 2026 Logo Submissions
Besides the winning design, there were five other submissions- all equally lovely! The designs below are from Madison Courtney, Alyssa Dunning, Edmon Fuerte, Clarissa Gearner, and Mary Ruden.
KNPS extends our thanks and appreciation to Alexandra, Madison, Alyssa, Edmon, Clarissa, and Mary for sharing their beautiful and creative visions us.
