Wildflower Tours in Kansas

Enjoy the beauty of the fall prairie wildflowers in this
video from Mike Blair of Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks!
For more videos from this series, see the KDWP website.

Winter is a good time to get out the field guides and page through them to refamiliarize yourself with the wide variety of flora available in Kansas. Re-reading the text entries will often yield surprising flashes of insight based on the experiences you had since you last read them.

Of course, one can never have enough field guides! Don't limit your bookshelf to the "Kansas-only" books. Often you will find species from Kansas in the field guides from neighboring states and other species that are not be listed in Kansas books that are also found here. Every author brings a different suite of experiences to what they write, and different books may have different features of a species illustrated as well, so these too can provide you with valuable knowledge. You can find a list of books on Kansas wildflowers and other natural history topics here.

Want a real identification challenge? Try finding your favorite species in winter! See if you can use the seed pods and vegetative structures to recognize a species. This is a great way to broaden your familiarity with a plant. There was a 1984 book useful for this purpose called "Pods: Wildflowers and Weeds in Their Final Beauty" written by Jane Emberton that is currently out of print (and really deserves a second edition), but you may be able to locate a used copy online or through your local bookstore.

Think Spring!

2010 Wildflower Programs and Outings

	February 9: Seasons Along the Kaw Presentation by Ken Lassman. This free program is sponsored by the Topeka Audubon Society. Location: Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. tas@topekaaudubonsociety.org or (785) 580-4400
	April 17-25: Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day! Contact us about special events you're planning and we may share them with fellow native plant enthusiasts.
	May 8: Barber County Wildflower Tour. Meet at the Medicine Lodge High School, 8:30am. Enjoy continental breakfast and slides of flowers we expect to see. Buses will provide transportation. Morning participants will return to the school at noon. Full-day participants will enjoy a delicious lunch and entertainment at a tree-shaded country park. Ride through the beautiful gyp hills to a second site. Refreshments will be served before we return to the school around 3:30pm. Barber Co. Conservation District and Kansas Native Plant Society are co-sponsors. Pre-paid reservations should be sent before May 4th, $8 half-day, $15 full-day. Barber Co Conservation, 800 W. 3rd Ave. Medicine Lodge, KS 67104-8002, phone (620) 886-3721, ext. 3.
	May 7-10: FloraKansas: Great Plains Plant Bazaar at Dyck Arboretum of the Plains, Hesston, KS. This plant sale features hard-to-find native perennials plus classes and tours. Kansas Native Plant Society co-sponsors Dyck Arboretum events. Ask about member's only sale dates; 10% members discount on all days. Admission charge is by donation. arboretum@Hesston.edu or (620) 327-8127
	June is Kansas Native Plant Appreciation Month! Each year Kansas Native Plant Society makes contact with the Kansas Governor to request that June be proclaimed as Kansas Native Plant Appreciation Month. This is a great opportunity to promote greater appreciation for the diversity, value, and beauty of Kansas native plants and their habitats.
	June 5: Spring Wildflower Tour at Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, McPherson County, KS. Board the tram for a tour of the prairie with wildflowers and buffalo, 10am. There is also a self guided walking tour with flowers flagged. The Refuge is located 6 miles north of Canton, KS. (620)-628-4455
	June 12: 5th Annual Symphony in the Flint Hills will be held deep in the heart of the Flint Hills. Get ready for one of the most beautiful sites on the planet and the adventure of getting there. Enjoy this unique pairing of music and prairie! The vision of this concert is to heighten appreciation and knowledge of the Flint Hills as the last major intact tallgrass prairie on the North American continent and will help focus attention on the Flint Hills of Kansas as a national treasure belonging to all Kansans and as a destination for people beyond our borders. Wildflower tours will be lead by Kansas Native Plant Society volunteers. Featured is an outdoor concert performed by the Kansas City Symphony. www.symphonyintheflinthills.org or (620) 273-8955
	June 13: Friends of Konza Prairie Annual Wildflower Walk, 7pm. The walk will be co-lead by Valerie Wright, Kansas Native Plant Society Board Member, and Konza Docents. There is a charge of $7 for those who are not Friends of Konza Prairie members. Telephone reservations are due June 9, (785) 587-0441.
	August 1-5: The North American Prairie Conference will be in Cedar Falls, IA. The University of Northern Iowa will host the 22nd Biennial NAPC. This year's conference is themed Restoring a National Treasure. For more information contact: http://www.northamericanprairieconference.org Ryan Welch rwelch@uni.edu or (319) 273-7957.
	September 4: Fall Wildflower Tour at Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, McPherson County, KS. Board the tram for a tour of the prairie with wildflowers and buffalo, 10am. There is also a self guided walking tour with flowers flagged. The Refuge is located 6 miles north of Canton, KS. (620)-628-4455
	September 9-12: FloraKansas: Great Plains Plant Bazaar at Dyck Arboretum of the Plains, Hesston, KS. This plant sale features hard-to-find native perennials plus classes and tours. Kansas Native Plant Society co-sponsors Dyck Arboretum events. Ask about member's only sale dates; 10% members discount on all days. Admission charge is by donation. arboretum@Hesston.edu or (620) 327-8127

For a look online at what Kansas has to offer throughout the year, visit these web sites:

Southwest Kansas Wildflowers - featuring the photos of Fred Meyer Jr.
Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas - by Mike Haddock

	If you are not already a member, consider joining the Kansas Native Plant Society. The mission of the Kansas Native Plant Society is to encourage awareness and appreciation of the native plants of Kansas in their habitats and in our landscapes by promoting education, stewardship, and scientific knowledge.
	The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Website has a lot of information on North American wildflowers.
	The Grassland Heritage Foundation seeks to preserve native prairie lands in northeast Kansas.
	Use the USDA PLANTS database to get information on any plant in North America.
	Jeff Hansen has a website on wildflower propagation at KansasNativePlants.com

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