KU invites public to summer solstice tour of Native Medicinal Plant Garden
KU will open its Native Medicinal Plant Garden at 7 p.m. June 21, giving Douglas County residents a look at research plantings at 1865 East 1600 Road.
The University of Kansas will open its Native Medicinal Plant Garden to the public at 7 p.m. June 21, a summer solstice tour that puts Douglas County residents in the middle of KU’s research plantings, native species demonstrations and community garden space east of the Lawrence Municipal Airport. Kelly Kindscher, a senior scientist with the Kansas Biological Survey and Center for Ecological Research and a professor in KU Environmental Studies, will lead the walk, and KU says the event is weather-dependent and could be canceled if conditions turn bad.
The garden sits at 1865 East 1600 Road next to Prairie Moon Waldorf School, just south of Highway 24/40 and just east of the airport. KU describes the pathways as ADA-compliant and says the site is open to visitors from dawn to dusk, making it one of the more accessible ways to see native medicinal plant research up close without leaving the Lawrence area.
KU says the Native Medicinal Plant Research Garden was established in 2010 on land held by KU Endowment near the airport. The university describes the site in different places as either 10 acres or 5 acres, a difference that appears to reflect how the garden footprint is measured. Either way, KU says the garden serves as a gateway to the KU Field Station’s northern tracts and core research area.
That larger Field Station, managed by the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research, is described by KU as having roughly 1,600 to 1,800 acres of research land, about 5 miles of public trails and a location just minutes from downtown Lawrence, I-70 and U.S. Highway 40. KU says the Native Medicinal Plant Garden draws hundreds of visitors each year and that public tours are held twice a year, in summer and fall.
Past KU coverage has said Douglas County Extension Master Gardeners help maintain the show-garden area, and botanist Jennifer Moody has participated in previous tours. For Lawrence and Douglas County, the appeal is simple: the tour offers a direct look at KU science in a place residents can reach quickly, whether they are coming from campus, downtown or the neighborhoods along the city’s eastern edge.
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