To begin Botany Blitz 2025 and Wildflower Week, on Saturday, April 5th and Sunday, 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 botanizers and naturalists 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 2025 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 WildflowerWeekend2025@knps.org.

For a second year, in the spirit of bringing together creative expression and love for nature, the KNPS Board sponsored a Wildflower Weekend 2025 Logo Design Contest. This was an open design contest to come up with a logo for Wildflower Weekend 2025 (April 11-13 at Carter Caves SRP).

Wildflower Weekend 2025 will be held at Carter Caves SRP in Carter County. The county is a hot spot of Viola diversity in Kentucky, with 13 species of Viola found in the county. One species of violet was selected to be the species around which the logo design would focus, the three-parted yellow violet (Viola tripartita). It is native to Eastern North America, being primarily found in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The species is rare throughout its range, especially so in Kentucky where it has only been reported from Carter County.

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 130 members casting a vote. The beautiful logo featured above came out on top as the winning entry. The design, featuring the three-parted yellow violet, two other species of violet found in Carter county and a background of Carter Caves, was submitted by Cheryll Frank of Scott Co., KY.