photo by: University of Kansas

Visitors learn about individual native plants and their uses at a tour of KU's medicinal garden.

The public can celebrate the summer solstice with a guided tour of KU’s medicinal garden that will highlight ecological research, student projects and community partnerships.

The tour will take place at 7 p.m. Friday. The garden is east of the Lawrence Municipal Airport next to Prairie Moon Waldorf School, 1865 East 1600 Road. It includes research plantings, a large native plant demonstration garden and the University of Kansas Community Garden. The garden pathways are ADA-accessible, according to a press release from KU.

Kelly Kindscher, a senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey and Center for Ecological Research and a professor in the KU Environmental Studies program, will give an overview of the research plantings and highlight important native species, along with their uses as food and medicine.

Kindscher is currently working on a funded research project with echinacea, or purple coneflowers, to determine the best species and cultural conditions for producing echinacea seed oil.

In addition to plants, a KU student bee club maintains hives at the garden site to study beekeeping.

“One big purpose of the Summer Solstice open house is for us to share about our research project and for other groups to share about theirs,” Kindscher said via email.

Established in 2010, the garden is the first of several KU Field Station sites along East 1600 Road in Douglas County, just north of U.S. Highway 40. According to the press release, the land for the garden was provided by KU Endowment, the independent nonprofit organization that serves as KU’s official fundraising and fund-management partner.

During the event, attendees will have the opportunity to explore the garden and view the contributions of the Douglas County Extension Master Gardeners, who collaborate with the research center to help maintain the space.

The tour will end before dark, but guests are welcome to stay and enjoy the sunset, expected around 8:40 p.m.