Calvin Andries

KNPS has many research grant opportunities; you can read about them and recent winners by viewing the Grants page. Recently, editor Nick Koenig caught up with 2018 winner, Calvin Andries to see how his research was going, and here’s what Calvin had to say.

During the 2018 growing season, I conducted vascular floras of two wetlands within the Red River Gorge Geological Area and Clifty Wilderness. The floras were created using vouchers I collected, and some herbarium records for a total of 106 vouchers from 2016–2018; they documented 35 families, 49 genera, and 61 species. The most taxon-rich families were Cyperaceae (10 spp.), Fagaceae (four spp.), and Rubiaceae (four spp.). This study investigated two NatureServe ecological systems – an Appalachian sinkhole and depression pond with the upland sweetgum-red maple pond association, and a Cumberland seepage forest with a forested swamp bog association.

The full results of this study are currently in review for publication, but this project wouldn’t have happened without the guidance of my advisor, Dr. Brad Ruhfel, and the support from the Society of Herbarium Curators, the Kentucky Society of Natural History, Battelle, and of course the Kentucky Native Plant Society. Without the support of these great groups I wouldn’t have been able to make the 20+ collecting trips and purchased the collecting supplies needed to conduct this flora.

Since finishing my flora, I have graduated from Eastern Kentucky University and have moved down south to the University of Georgia where I am pursuing a Masters of Science in Forestry and Natural Resources with a wildlife emphasis.

My masters thesis work will look a little different from my undergraduate research, but will be staying in the realm of botany. I am working with a power company to develop a way to remotely identify natural prairies along powerline right-of-ways in the eastern half of the Piedmont region of Georgia. This project will help preserve these uncommon early-successional habitats and document the impact they have on pollinators such as the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). In addition, this project will rely on a combination of field work, herbarium records, and citizen science data.

If anyone finds themselves in Georgia over the next year, make sure to post what flowers you see! Thank you to everyone at Kentucky Native Plant Society and within the botanical community in Kentucky for the support you gave me through undergrad, and for the well wishes as I continue my academic journey.

Rachel Cook

One of the biggest questions for native plant enthusiasts is where to buy plants. Tara Littlefield, Jeff Nelson, and I wanted to improve the existing Native Plant Nursery list to help KNPS members find the right nursery to buy from. The existing Native Plant Nursery list was primarily contact information, and we want to share more about the plants and services offered. We used the Indiana Native Plant Society website as inspiration for updating our nursery list.

There are so many nurseries in Kentucky, how do you know what type of native products they are selling: cultivars vs locally collected seed, plants or seeds only, pollinator-friendly, or edibles? These were some of the many questions we thought were important to members, but answers were difficult to find. Who best to answer these questions than the nurseries themselves! To find nurseries, we used the existing nursery list and suggestion from the members of our KNPS Facebook group. I focused on Kentucky nurseries, but included nurseries in other states that were within an hour. With Jeff’s technical expertise, we created an online survey that I emailed to nurseries. After receiving most of the responses, I created a new template and updated the KNPS website, https://sandbox.knps.org/native-plant-nurseries/.

After the initial update, we opened the survey up to the public! Now any nursery can use this link, https://sandbox.knps.org/native-plant-supplier-form/, to fill out the survey and be included on the website. We are also working to create a page for native plant swaps and sales events using the same link. Do you have a nursery you would like included? Send them the survey, we would love to highlight more native plant suppliers!

Ann Longsworth

Railroad tracks ran along the end of our small backyard, along the edge where brambles grew, the occasional hobo slept, and Mother and I examined leaves and gathered wildflowers. From this seed planted long ago, a lifelong love of wildflowers grew. Many years later, this city kid bought nine rugged acres in Madison County, Kentucky. I named the property “Jean’s Glade,” after my mother. The first year was spent bush whacking and building a small home. The second year, I started exploring the property and discovered what turned out to be Gentiana flavida, a Kentucky state endangered species and the largest documented population at that time. So began a twenty-year odyssey.

I had a lot of questions about this plant and set out to find answers. First, how to positively identify the plant. Dr. Ralph Thompson, to whom Jean’s Glade owes much, identified the plant and collected the voucher specimen, currently housed in the Ralph Thompson Herbarium at Eastern Kentucky University. Next, how should I manage the plant? Heather Housman, formerly of the State Nature Preserves, was an incredible asset in this process. I chainsawed eight 110-year-old cedars. Staff with the Landowner Incentive Program removed numerous saplings, as did Josie Miller and Nathan Skinner, one winter day. With more exposure to the sun, what was originally 129 gentians became 634 at last count (I continue to remove woody plants, an ongoing job).

Finally, should the plant be studied? Dr. Chris Adams of Berea College and Dr. Ralph Thompson, Berea College retiree, completed the floristic study of the gentians which was published in Phytoneurexon, 2017-83: 1-25. Other studies to come: germination requirements of Gentiana flavida and isolating the mycorrhiza associated with the plant.

At Jean’s Glade, gentians grow on a south-west facing slope. They occur in a small prairie inclusion and in the open mixed hardwood/cedar forest edging the meadow. Gentiana flavida is a sun loving perennial that is recruited by seed. They bloom August through September and are pollinated by bumblebees. According to Drs. Adam and Thompson, “Gentiana flavida populations are imperiled throughout much of their distribution range because of extreme habitat loss primarily from anthropogenic disturbances, forest expansion, absence of fire, and invasive grasses and forbs.”

The efforts I’ve made for the gentians may read as if it was a trouble-free path. Nothing could be further from the truth! Along my journey, I encountered years of what seemed to be insurmountable problems, read stacks of literature, cold-called various researchers, professors, and authors, visited a gentian site in Indiana, and mostly refused to take “No” or “Can’t” for an answer. I have met many wonderful people because of this plant and probably ruffled a few feathers, and let’s just say, the electric company could probably describe to perfection “old Betsy” my rather rusty hunting gun (not a recommended conservation tool, but effective).

Many things have changed in the past twenty year. “Miss Jean” passed away five years ago. Now in my senior years, I face the biggest challenge yet: how to preserve the Glade, knowing that I will need to sell it in order to move closer to town soon. This may be one problem I am unable to solve.

It is springtime at Jean’s Glade now. Titmice are calling, goldfinches are fussing, and the creek beside my house sounds like a sweetly flowing conversation. I can almost hear a voice saying, “Let’s take a nature walk!” And I would add, “While it’s still here, while it’s all still here.”

Ann Longsworth is a retired psychologist whose avocation is Kentucky native plants. Two events sort of encouraged my pursuit of native plants. First, we moved to Kentucky for my father’s work at Berea College. The college property we moved to had lots of native plants. Second, was my first short-term course at Berea College, which was at Pine Mountain Settlement School. I also grow native plants and have a native plant fundraiser sale (this year will be my eight) and give all of the proceeds to Monarch Watch and/or nature projects.

Shannon Trimboli

Like many of you, I love learning about our native plants, pollinators, wildlife, and local ecology. Often, I satisfy that love of learning through reading, but I can’t always have my nose stuffed in a book. Recently, I started listening to podcasts as another way to satisfy my love of learning.

Podcasts are great because I can listen to them in the car, while I’m doing household chores, while I’m planting seeds for the upcoming nursery season, and so on. Given my interests, my podcast searches naturally centered on those related to native plants, gardening for pollinators and wildlife, and general ecology with an emphasis on Kentucky or nearby areas. My top three favorites are In Defense of Plants, From the Woods Kentucky, and PolliNation.

In Defense of Plants

In Defense of Plants is produced by Matt Candeias, a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who enjoys sharing his love of all things related to botany and plants. This is, by far, my favorite podcast. Matt invites a wide variety of scientists, botanists, and plant conservationists to the program to discuss their work and their findings in a very down-to-earth manner. It’s like being invited to sit down at a table and geek out about botany, plants in general, and the newest scientific findings. I find the conversations fascinating and always learn something new.

http://www.indefenseofplants.com/podcast/

From the Woods Kentucky

From the Woods Kentucky is produced through the University of Kentucky’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. (If you’re in the Lexington area, you can listen to it on the radio.) Co-hosts Renee Williams and Laura Lhotka invite a number of our state’s educators, resource managers, and other experts to discuss Kentucky’s forests and related resources. Topics vary from Kentucky’s rare plants, to horse logging, to resources for managing private lands, to a diverse array of other subjects. I really enjoy the Kentucky focus and the fact that many of the programs have a very applied nature with information that private landowners can use on their own properties. Most of their programs provide information that is relevant across the state; however, they do have a few programs focused on Lexington-based resources and events. I understand why they include those programs, but I tend to skip over them because I don’t live near Lexington.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-the-woods-kentucky/id1446908745

PolliNation

PolliNation is produced out of Oregon State University and is part of their OSU Pollinator Health Program. This podcast covers a variety of bee and pollinator habitat related topics, which is something I am very interested in. However, the podcast obviously has a very Pacific Northwest slant. I enjoy listening to it, but not nearly as much as I like the previous two podcasts. I really wish there was a pollinator podcast that focused more on the eastern U.S.

http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/

Although these are my current favorites, I’m sure there are other great ones that I haven’t found yet. I’d be interested in learning about your favorite podcasts too and suggest we continue this discussion on the Kentucky Native Plant Society’s Facebook page. What are your favorite native plant and ecology related podcasts? Why?

Shannon Trimboli is a beekeeper, wildlife biologist, author, and public speaker. She owns Busy Bee Nursery, which specializes in plants (mostly species native to Kentucky) for honey bees, native pollinators, and wildlife conservation. In 2018, her first book, Plants Honey Bees Use in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, was published. Shannon also writes a weekly blog called Kentucky Pollinators and Backyard Wildlife, which features profiles of pollinators and wildlife, tips for attracting pollinators and wildlife, highlights of different plants for pollinators and wildlife, and life on the farm and nursery.