Annual summer tour of KU medicinal garden set for June 21

LAWRENCE — The public is invited to the summer semiannual tour of the University of Kansas Native Medicinal Plant Research Garden at 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 21. The tour is scheduled for evening on the summer solstice.

The garden, situated just east of the Lawrence Municipal Airport (directions and map), includes research plantings, a large native plant demonstration garden and the KU Student Farm. Garden pathways are ADA-compliant, and the site is open to the public dawn to dusk. This informal tour will be led by Kelly Kindscher, Kansas Biological Survey scientist and professor in the KU Environmental Studies Program. Botanist Jennifer Moody, the Biological Survey coordinator for the garden, along with students who work at the garden, will be available to answer questions. Douglas County Extension Master Gardeners, who partner with the survey to manage the garden, also will be on hand. See the Facebook event.

The garden site, 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 was made available by the KU Endowment.

The KU Field Station, established in 1947, is managed by the Kansas Biological Survey, a KU designated research center. The core research and operations area of the Field Station, north of Lawrence, consists of 1,800 acres, with five miles of public trails.