Master Gardeners host free lecture on medicinal plants at library

Residents looking for practical plant advice will get it free at noon May 7, when Amanda Klenke speaks at the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library about how to utilize the medicinal plants already within reach. The final lecture in the Lafayette County Master Gardeners’ spring series is designed around everyday use, not abstract botany.

Klenke is an R&D botanist at the University of Mississippi’s National Center for Natural Products Research, and her background connects the program to one of Oxford’s most specialized plant research hubs. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Plant Science from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2008, has spent the past 11 years in horticulture roles at Ole Miss, and has been a Certified Arborist since 2020.

The Master Gardeners program that brings her to the library is built on public education. Mississippi State University Extension says Master Gardeners receive 40 hours of training in consumer horticulture and related areas, then return 40 hours of volunteer service in the first year, followed by 20 hours of volunteer service and 12 hours of continuing education each year to keep their certification. Extension describes that work as a way to extend university research-based horticultural information to the public.

The spring lecture series also included a March 4 talk by Dr. Jason Hoeksema on bird conservation in North Mississippi, “Flooded fields and window collisions,” and an April 9 lecture by Dr. Chris Cooper titled “PSI: Plant Scene Investigation.” All three programs were held at noon in the Dotsy A. Fitts Auditorium at 401 Bramlett Boulevard, with parking available at the library or across the street at the Oxford Skate Park.

Klenke’s own institution places medicinal plants at the center of its work. The National Center for Natural Products Research says the Maynard W. Quimby Medicinal Plant Garden contains one of the finest living collections of medicinal plants in the United States. The facility includes a greenhouse, shade house, specimen grinding, processing, drying and storage facilities, along with a seed bank founded in 2002 to support germplasm exchange with botanical gardens around the world.

The center, headquartered in the Thad Cochran Research Center, marked its 30th anniversary in 2025 and said it has developed more than 200 analytical methods to help ensure supplement quality and consumer safety. For Lafayette County, the May 7 lecture offers a free chance to hear how that research translates into practical plant knowledge. More information is available through the Master Gardeners’ social media pages or by calling the MSU Extension office at 662-234-4451.