The Full Story

About

It was suggested that I make an about section, as people were wondering about my background and why I started the website, so here we go!

My name is Zac Gnadinger, and I grew up in Oldham County, KY.

I first became aware of "native" plants in 2013 while attending Lindsey Wilson College. My biology professor, Dr. Michael Bosela, was a mentor who played a huge role in developing my interest in native plants.

But after two and a half years of college, I decided to drop out to start a business in Colorado, putting a pause on my passion for Kentucky native plants.

I have lived in Colorado, running that business, for nearly a decade.

As I've gotten older, the desire to return to Kentucky has grown stronger. About a year ago, I made the decision to move back to my home state in the fall of 2023. (Coming up soon!)

While planning the move, I looked forward to returning to my college roots and making a native plant garden.

I started searching on Google to find out which plants to use when I returned.

Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult to find information specific to Kentucky.

I bought around a dozen books and had to cross-reference multiple websites to find the answers I was looking for.

While doing all this research, I realized other people might be having this problem too.

From there, the Kentucky Native Plants Project was born!

I created this website to help people new to native plants and answer questions they may have when first starting out.

By making a space where information is free and easily accessible, I hope more people will be encouraged to start planting native.

I currently work on the website in my free time, as my business allows, so please be patient with the content release schedule. I have a lot more planned!

If you wish to support what I'm doing here, please consider purchasing something through one of the website's affiliate links, like from the book lists. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

The programs I use to work on the website, create visual graphics, and write content all add up, and I would be ecstatic if the website could support itself.

I will also be releasing products related to native plants in the future! So keep an eye out for those.

Thank you for being here and having an interest in the native plants of Kentucky!

If you've added native plants to your yard, please consider marking them on the Homegrown National Park's website.

While we aren't affiliated, I fully support their mission and would love to see Kentucky be one of the top states for native plantings.