April 6, 2023
Jeff Nelson
Like many of you, I love early spring and exploring the woods for the first native plants to appear and blossom. Here, on our place in McCracken county, we have spring beauties (Claytonia virginica), yellow corydalis (Corydalis flavula), common violet (Viola soria), downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea), and pawpaw (Asimina triloba) all in bloom. Lots of natives are just now popping out of the ground everywhere I look. After the severe drought we experienced last summer all the signs are that this will be a good year for our native plants. I hope you all are having the opportunity to get out into Kentucky’s native plant communities and are enjoying the spring rebirth.
Tomorrow, Saturday, April 8 begins KNPS’s Wildflower Week 2023. The week will begin with a series of First Day Hikes at locations around the commonwealth. From Metropolis Lake in McCracken county to St. Anne Woods and Wetlands in Campbell county, and several locations in between, these easy nature walks will be led by local botanizers who know the native plant species that will be encountered in each area. If you would like to learn more about these hikes and join one, just visit this page: Kick-off BotanyBlitz 2023 with a First Day Hike on April 8.
The First Day Hikes begin our week long BotanyBlitz 2023, which will run from Saturday, April 8, through Saturday, April 15. This is the third year for our BotanyBlitz, which is an effort to document as many plant species as possible within Kentucky during the week preceding Wildflower Weekend 2023. The BotanyBlitz 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. Last year’s BotanyBlitz 2022 had over 100 participants in more than 70 counties in Kentucky make 4,456 observations of 536 different species of plants, including 6 species that are rare in Kentucky. I encourage everyone reading this message to join in this exciting and valuable community science project. Learn how to participate here: Become Part of BotanyBlitz 2023! April 8 – April 15.
Last, but certainly by no means least, Wildflower Week 2023 comes to its conclusion with Wildflower Weekend 2023 at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park on Friday, April 14th & Saturday, April 15th, 2023. This is the 34th year that the Kentucky Native Plant Society has organized and held this amazing spring event and the first year that it has been held in a location other than Natural Bridge SRP. For fans of Natural Bridge and the Red River Gorge (and who cannot be a fan of that amazing region of Kentucky?) don’t worry, we will be back at Natural Bridge in April of 2024. The KNPS Board that we will have future Wildflower Weekends in even numbered years at Natural Bridge and in odd numbered years we will be moving the event around the state to other parks and natural areas.
Wildflower Weekend 2023 is shaping up to be among the best events KNPS has put on. There are 19 different hikes, led by some of the best botanists in Kentucky, exploring native plant communities in Cumberland Falls and the surrounding area. Several of the hikes are full, but there are still spots open in all of the time slots (Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon.) The weekend’s events will culminate with the Saturday evening talks in the Moonbow Conference Room. Scheduled talks are Trilliums of Kentucky Update, by Tara Littlefield, Southern Kentucky Landscape Features and Associated Rare Species, by James Kiser, and Botanical Humor: You Never Knew Plants Were So Funny, by Chris Benda. Read all about Wildflower Weekend 2023 and register here: Wildflower Weekend 2023 – Registration is Now Open!