The snow has melted, the days are getting warmer, we’re excited to celebrate the glory of spring and we hope you’ll join us for a virtual Wildflower Week from April 10-17. If you’re as ready as we are to get outside and explore natural areas for our favorite spring bloomers, head over to iNaturalist to join our Wildflower Week 2021 BotanyBlitz! A BotanyBlitz is citizen-science event that focuses on finding and identifying as many plant species as possible in a select area for a specific period of time. This particular Blitz is a state-wide event that will run for the duration of Wildflower Week, and it’s a great outdoor activity and easy to do while social-distancing! All you need to do to participate is log in or sign up for an iNaturalist account (a quick and easy process), navigate to the project page and click the “Join” button near the top right corner, then just upload plant photos you take during the week. If you aren’t sure how to identify everything you see, fear not! KNPS members will be watching the observations roll in, and are more than happy to help identify all the plants you aren’t familiar with. We encourage everyone to post their wildflower observations on iNaturalist for this botanyblitz, we’d love to see what’s blooming in your part of the state.
We also have a number of events already planned throughout the week:
- On Saturday April 10, all are invited to attend the KNPS Spring Meeting & Wildflower Week Kick-Off Zoom meeting. Register here to attend both the Kick-off and Closing meetings!
- Then on Monday April 12, we’re looking forward to watching a virtual hike with Park Naturalist Samantha Evans to Natural Bridge State Resort Park in the Red River Gorge area.
- Tuesday April 13, Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves Botanist Tara Littlefield will take us on a virtual hike of Cumberland Plateau acid seeps of eastern Kentucky, a rare habitat that OKNP is helping to restore. Later that evening, you can test your botanical knowledge by attending a wildflower trivia contest hosted by The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky.
- Make sure to sign up for Wednesday’s live Zoom class on Botanical Drawing, lead by Assistant Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens Amy Tipton.
- And on Sunday April 17, join us again on Zoom for our Closing Session, and to hear the BotanyBlitz Results!
Additional virtual as well as local events will be added between now and the Kick-Off date, so make sure to bookmark our official Wildflower Week 2021 info page to find out how to register for various events and check for updates.
Mark your calendars now, and we’ll see you on April 10!
