Discovery Day: Brilliant Botany

July 26th, 2020
10:00am - 4:30pm
KU Natural History Museum Facebook Page

Join us on Facebook on July 26 to discover the amazing world of plants with scientists and graduate students from the KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum plus a full slate of plant-focused community partners! Learn about: why life on Earth is mostly green, native Kansas plants, grass-roots community gardening, take a nature walk with a botanist and so much more! We’ll have new videos released throughout the day (schedule is below) with something fun for everyone and all ages, including adults!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
10AM - Welcome from the KU Natural History Museum + how to make plantable seed paper
(Ages 7+)

10:30AM - Gardening Fun, the Grossology of Okra & much more! (Ages 5+)
Guest: Caleb Morse, KU Botany Collection Manager

11AM - The Geometry of Flowers - an origami activity (ages 5+)
followed by Fascinating Flowering Prairie Plants (ages 8+)
Guests: Laura Jimenez, KU Ecology & Evolutionary Biology graduate student followed by Peggy Schultz, Kansas Biological Survey and KU Environmental Studies Program

12PM - Plant Talk Nature Walk with the KU Natural HIstory Museum
(ages 10+)
Craig will talk plants on a nature walk, followed by comments  about this month's iNaturalist project! 
Guest: Craig Freeman, KU Botany Curator at the KU Biodiversity Institute

1PM - Community Garden Lab Project in Kansas City, Kansas
(ages 12+). Insights from a community environmental project that brought together different KCK community organizations and a business, resulting in a living community garden lab!
Guest: Richard Mabion, environmental literacy activist, founder of Building A Sustainable Earth Community, and Kansas Sierra Club Board of Directors member

2PM - Restoring Biodiversity & Managing Native Plants (ages 12+)
Guest: Courtney Masterson, ecologist, educator, and owner/operator of Native Lands LLC, an ecological restoration firm

3PM - Tallgrass Prairie Plants (ages 8+)
Guest: Douglas County Master Gardners

4PM - KU Prairie Acre
Learn about this special area on the University of Kansas Lawrence campus, how it is being restored, and used by KU students (ages 12+)
Guest: Bob Hagen, KU Environmental Studies Program

4:30PM BONUS: Paleobotany with KU paleobotanist Brian Atkinson! Watch a short video on how Dr. Atkinson sections and plant fossil using an acetate peel!