Are You On the 2024 Botany Blitz Map?

Each orange square is a location where Botany Blitz observations have been made

The KNPS Wildflower Week 2024 Botany Blitz began on Saturday, April 6th with six Kick-Off Hikes across the Commonwealth; from Hematite Lake in Trigg County in the west, to Lower Howard’s Creek in Clark County in the east. Running through Sunday, April 14th, the Botany Blitz is an effort to document as many plant species as possible within Kentucky during the week preceding Wildflower Weekend. Observers have already recorded more than 1,000 observations of over 300 species of plants in the state.

This is the fourth year for our spring wildflower-focused Botany Blitz, which is hosted on the community science website iNaturalist. Using either the iNaturalist mobile app or website, participants upload photos of budding and blooming plants they observe in local parks, state parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and nature preserves across the state. Like many other plant identification apps, iNaturalist analyzes the visual information in photos and offers identification suggestions. But unlike other AI-based apps, the iNaturalist website is also a robust community of people, from new nature enthusiasts to experienced naturalists and expert biologists. The observations you make can be reviewed by the community, and the identifications you select can be confirmed or corrected by other members.

We encourage anyone interested to sign up for an iNaturalist account if you’re not already a user, and to make sure your observations get counted in this year’s blitz, join the Botany Blitz 2024 project (just click “Join” in the top right corner of the project page), and download the mobile app for iPhone or Android. Then get out and look for native plants in parks and other natural areas in your part of KY and make your observations. If you’re new to the platform, check out this helpful Getting Started guide, and browse the observations made by Botany Blitz 2024 participants (or the view the results from 2021, 2022, and 2023).

Wildflower Weekend 2024 – Registration is Now Open!

Kentucky Native Plant Society’s
Wildflower Weekend 2024
Natural Bridge State Resort Park
Friday, April 12th & Saturday, April 13th, 2024

The schedule is set and registration is now open for Wildflower Weekend 2024, April 12th-13th, at Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Join nature lovers, families, community scientists, amateur naturalists, and professional botanists from across the Commonwealth, as we explore the beauty and diversity of Kentucky’s natural history. Wildflower Weekend is open to the public and family-friendly.

This year we are celebrating 35 years of Wildflower Weekend! That’s right! Naturalists and nature lovers from all across Kentucky have been gathering in the spirit of botanical appreciation, fellowship and education at Wildflower Weekend since May 1989! We are proud to host this year’s event at Natural Bridge SRP, the original location of the very first KNPS Wildflower Weekend.

We are offering over 20 different hikes this year, the most we have ever had at any Wildflower Weekend! In addition to our usual “all things botanical” hikes, we have a couple of hikes concentrating on birds, a couple of hikes concentrating on reptiles and amphibians, and one featuring butterflies. There will also be a couple of workshops, “Non-Native Invasive Species Management” and an art workshop, “Reflecting on Nature through Artmaking”.

We have always tried to make Wildflower Weekend a family friendly event (kids 12 and under attend free). This year we are offering two kid centered activities, a “Junior Botanist Adventure for Kids!” on Saturday morning and then, on Saturday afternoon, the “Kids Activities Table“, a drop-in activity (no registration required), with fun botanical and nature activities designed for the young naturalist. See details in the schedule below.

Of course, we will have our Members & Friends Social on Friday evening and the Saturday evening talks and raffle in the Woodland Center.

Pre-registration is required using the form at the bottom of this page (click here to go to the form). Admission is $10 for adults, $3 for ages 13-17, and free for ages 12 & under. The agenda for the weekend is listed below.

KNPS will have staffed tables in the lobby of the Hemlock Lodge where you can ask questions, meet old and new native plant friends, see the items that will be raffled off on Saturday night, purchase raffle tickets, and purchase some other native plant related items.

The hikes are limited as to the number of people who can sign up. This is done so that everyone will have a rich and positive experience. Last year hikes filled up fairly quickly, so register as soon as possible to get the best choice of hikes.

Continue reading Wildflower Weekend 2024 – Registration is Now Open! →

Become Part of Botany Blitz 2024! April 6th – April 14th

Leading up to Wildflower Weekend will be our week long Botany Blitz 2024, which will run from Saturday, April 6th, through Sunday, April 14th. This is the fourth year for our Botany Blitz, which is an effort to document as many plant species as possible within Kentucky during the week preceding Wildflower Weekend. The Botany Blitz will be again hosted on the community science website iNaturalist, and participants will be using the iNaturalist mobile app (or website, if your preferred camera is not a smartphone!) to upload photos of budding and blooming plants they observe in local parks, state parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and nature preserves.

We encourage anyone interested to sign up for an iNaturalist account if you’re not already a user, and join the Botany Blitz 2024 project (just click “Join” in the top right corner of the project page), and download the mobile app for iPhone or Android.

At the end of the week, we will have a map and totals by numbers, species, and by each person of all the great collections we found! Additionally, expert botanists and people with a keen identifying eye will be able to add comments to your specimens on why they agree or disagree with a certain identification, so we can learn better ways to ID plants in the future.

In 2023, Botany Blitz was a great success. We almost 70 observers who made over 3,763 observations of 653 species of plants. We can do even better this year! Help us make this Botany Blitz the biggest ever!

Of course, you don’t need to wait till the Botany Blitz to start making observations on iNaturalist, and wildflowers across Kentucky are already starting to show their stuff!

Begin Botany Blitz 2024 with a Kick Off Hike on April 6

To begin Botany Blitz 2024 and Wildflower Week, on Saturday, April 6th, KNPS will host a series of Kick Off Hikes in parks and natural areas across the Commonwealth.

These mainly easy nature walks will be led by local botanizers who know the native plant species that will be encountered in each area. As the Kick Off hikes are meant to start the Botany Blitz project, we are hoping that folks who plan to participate will sign up for an iNaturalist account (if they don’t already have one) and join the Botany Blitz 2024 project.

Please fill out the form at the bottom of this page if you are going to participate in one of the First Day hikes. If you have any questions email us at WildflowerWeekend2024@knps.org.

Continue reading Begin Botany Blitz 2024 with a Kick Off Hike on April 6 →

Help Us Celebrate 35 Years of Wildflower Weekend With Your Photos!

This year we are celebrating 35 years of Wildflower Weekend! That’s right! Naturalists and nature lovers from all across Kentucky have been gathering in the spirit of botanical appreciation, fellowship and education at Wildflower Weekend since May 1989! We are proud to host this year’s event at Natural Bridge SRP, the original location of the very first KNPS Wildflower Weekend (scroll down to page 3).

Help Us Celebrate with Your Photos!

To help celebrate our 35 years of Wildflower Weekend, we are planning to put together a montage of photos from prior Weekends that we will show during the Saturday evening talks. It would be great if everyone would look through their old Wildflower Weekend photos and pick out a few that you would like to share. If any of our longtime members have actual photos from the days before digital cameras a scan of those would be extra special.

Use the link below to access the drop folder for your images. Please include the year of the Wildflower Weekend as part of the file name (e.g. WW2010). If you have any questions, just email us at WildflowerWeekend2024@knps.org. Thanks.

Drop Folder For Images of Previous Wildflower Weekends

Wildflower Weekend 2024 – Merchandise

This is the second consecutive year that KNPS is offering merchandise with a logo developed specifically for Wildflower Weekend. This year, in the spirit of bringing together creative expression and love for nature, the KNPS Board decided to have a Wildflower Weekend 2024 Logo Design Contest. This was an open design contest to come up with a logo for Wildflower Weekend 2024.

We put out a call to artists and graphic designers who were members of the Kentucky Native Plant Society in early December 2023. We asked the designers to submit designs that incorporated either the great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) or the stinking Benjamin, a.k.a. red trillium (T. erectum) or both. The submitted designs were then presented to the KNPS membership for voting during the month of January 2024.

We did not know what the response would be so we were thrilled when we received 11 gorgeous designs, well beyond our expectations! The members of KNPS responded in kind, surpassing our expectations as we received nearly 140 votes, by far the biggest response we have ever received for an online poll. Voting came down to a nail-biting close race, and we had to have a runoff between the top two designs. At the end of the runoff, the beautiful logo featured above came out on top as the winning entry. The design, a contemporary interpretation of the iconic Trillium species crafted into a logo with a care-free and breezy sentiment of Spring, was submitted by Rick Mullenix of London, KY (Rick’s bio is below the items) .

Continue reading Wildflower Weekend 2024 – Merchandise →

Save the Date! KNPS Wildflower Weekend 2024 – April 12th-14th, 2024

We have exciting news for all of our members and friends! KNPS is happy to announce this year’s Wildflower Weekend has been scheduled for April 12th-14th, 2024 at Natural Bridge State Resort Park!

But wait, there is even more cause for jubilation! This year we are celebrating 35 years of Wildflower Weekend! That’s right! Naturalists and nature lovers from all across Kentucky have been gathering in the spirit of botanical appreciation, fellowship and education at Wildflower Weekend since May 1989! We are proud to host this year’s event at Natural Bridge SRP, the original location of the very first KNPS Wildflower Weekend (scroll down to page 3).

Help Us Celebrate with Your Photos!

To help celebrate our 35 years of Wildflower Weekend, we are planning to put together a montage of photos from prior Weekends that we will show during the Saturday evening talks. It would be great if everyone would look through their old Wildflower Weekend photos and pick out a few that you would like to share. If any of our longtime members have actual photos from the days before digital cameras a scan of those would be extra special.

Use the link below to access the drop folder for your images. Please include the year of the Wildflower Weekend as part of the file name (e.g. WW2010).

Drop Folder For Images of Previous Wildflower Weekends

Wildflower Weekend 2024

Throughout its long history, Wildflower Weekend has been an enriching experience to our members and beyond; offering guided hikes to explore Kentucky’s rich natural history and resources in the Red River Gorge. We hope you will join us and other nature lovers, families, community scientists, amateur naturalists, and professional botanists from across the Commonwealth, to explore the beauty and diversity of our native plants this April.

The event will include guided hikes through beautiful natural areas throughout the weekend, a Friday Evening Friends & Members Social, and Saturday evening presentations.

Attendees will be able pre-register for both the event, as well as guided 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.

iNaturalist BotanyBlitz Kicks Off Wildflower Weekend across Kentucky

The week prior to Wildflower Weekend, KNPS will be hosting our annual week-long, state-wide BotanyBlitz on iNaturalist from April 6th-14th. This week-long BotanyBlitz allows us to broaden our spring wildflower scope to the entire state of Kentucky and allows us to highlight natural areas across the commonwealth! If you work/volunteer at a natural area in Kentucky and would like to partner with us to host a Kick Off Hike at your site to kick off the BotanyBlitz week, please send an email to: WildflowerWeekend2024@knps.org

Be sure to visit and bookmark the Wildflower Weekend 2024 page where we will be posting updates to the event schedules. If you have any questions, just shoot an email to WildflowerWeekend2024@knps.org. Hope to see you in April.