Annual summer tour of KU medicinal garden set for June 11

LAWRENCE — The public is invited to the semiannual tour of the University of Kansas Native Medicinal Plant Research Garden at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 11. The tour will take place rain or shine. (Directions)

The garden, situated just east of the Lawrence Municipal Airport, includes research plantings, a large show garden and the KU Student Farm. Garden pathways are ADA-compliant, and the site is open to the public dawn to dusk. Kelly Kindscher, senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey and professor in KU’s Environmental Studies Program, will lead the tour.

The show garden area is maintained in cooperation with the Douglas County Extension Master Gardeners, who consult with Kansas Biological Survey scientists and with KU students working at the site.

Several other types of research studies also are based at the 5-acre site, including grassland studies as well as a collaboration with scientists from the University of California, Davis, on the Kansan brood of 17-year cicadas.

The garden, established in 2010, serves as a gateway to the KU Field Station, as it is the first of several Field Station sites on East 1600 Road in Douglas County north of Highway 40. Land for the garden site was made available by the KU Endowment Association.

The KU Field Station is managed by the Kansas Biological Survey, a KU research center. The core area of the Field Station, north of Lawrence, consists of 1,800 acres with 5 miles of public trails.

Photo: A hummingbird moth visits common milkweed, Ascelpias tuberosa, at the KU Native Medicinal Plant Research Garden.