Kentucky claims about 400 different wildflowers. While some of them have been blooming since March, the peak wildflower season is April. Each week, in successive waves, additional species burst forth, carpeting the ground with light and color.
Formal wildflower walks in April are getting to be as popular as foliage hunts in October. But as interesting as these guided flower treks can be, they tend to get crowded and your pace is often set by a naturalist or park ranger. If you want to lag behind to photograph or just admire a particular blossom, it's hard to do it. So for a fun adventure, we suggest you grab a field guide to wildflowers and head off on your own.
There are several such field guides available. We like A Guide to the Wildflowers & Ferns of Kentucky by Mary E. Wharton and Roger W. Barbour. Large photos and clear descriptions make it easy to identify the flowers of our state.
Where do you find wildflowers? Virtually anywhere: in roadside swales and deep woods; city parks and state forests; nature preserves and abandoned homesteads.
We like to make a weekend out of wildflower walks, using a city or large town as a base, then hub-and-spoking to the small, relatively unknown pocket parks and conservation plots that abound near every urban center.
Take Lexington, for example. You can settle in at a bed and breakfast or hotel, with all the restaurants and other amenities close at hand, and spend the daylight hours exploring the flowers that have popped up that particular week. There are the obvious locales, such as the Lexington Cemetery and the Kentucky Horse Park, where you can see numerous species. But there are other areas, just a short drive from the city center, that are even more appealing.
Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, less than 12 miles from downtown Lexington, for instance, is a 374-acre city park dedicated to preserving the flora and fauna of the Kentucky River Palisades region. Along its eight miles of trails grow 300 varieties of wildflowers. In addition, the park contains one of the few remaining undeveloped limestone gorges in the state. Plus you might spot otherwise rare animals, such as the least weasel and nine-banded armadillo.
For Raven Run information, contact: Lexington-Fayette Urban County Division of Parks and Recreation, 545 North Upper St., Lexington, KY 40508, (859) 288-2900. Or call the park directly at (859) 272-6105.
Raven Run is a special place. But it's not the only one. To the west of Lexington, for instance, is the Clyde Buckley Wildlife Sanctuary, (859) 873-5711, where, at any one time, 30 or more wildflower varieties can be seen from its three nature paths. Or head south half an hour to the Berea College Forest, (859) 985-3587, where 19 miles of trails help you enjoy the wildflowers of the Knobs topography.
Such green areas are by no means confined to Lexington or even to central Kentucky. Virtually every major city and many not so major ones are surrounded by small parks and recreation areas filled with wildflowers.
For example, near Bowling Green is the obvious appeal of the 50,000 surface acres and 70 trail-miles of Mammoth Cave National Park. But there are the more intimate green areas in and about town, such as Lost River Valley and Cave.
Lost River Valley is most known for its cave (in which Jesse James and his gang are said to have hidden after robbing the Russellville bank), and for the river itself, said to be the "shortest, deepest river in the world." But the area is filled with wildflowers, many of which can be seen from the two major trails that form a loop around the narrow valley.
For information, contact: Bowling Green-Warren County Tourist Commission, 352 Three Springs Rd., Bowling Green, KY 42104, (270) 782-0800.
A short drive west of Bowling Green, near Russellville, is the Logan County Glade State Nature Preserve, which protects remnants of the original prairie vegetation that grew in the "Big Barrens" region when settlers first arrived. Contact: Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, 801 Schenkel Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601, (502) 573-2886 for details.
Indeed, it seems, the closer you are to population centers, the more likely you are to find these small conservation plots and pocket parks. Northern Kentucky is dotted with small wild areas, such as Quiet Trails State Nature Preserve, Boone County Cliffs State Nature Preserve, and the Fort Thomas Landmark Tree Trail.
Or check out the greenways in the Henderson-Owensboro corridor, including Yellow Creek and Panther parks. Contact: Daviess County Parks and Recreation Department, 5620 Highway 144, Owensboro, KY 42303, (270) 281-5346, or Audubon State Park, P.O. Box 576, Henderson, KY 42420, (270) 826-2247.

Day Trips & Short Stops
Governor Laffoon's cabin

Kentucky's governors have come from diverse backgrounds. Some were wealthy, others poor as dirt. Some grew up in fancy mansions, and others were lucky to have a roof over their head.
Former Governor Ruby Laffoon belongs in the low-end group. His birthplace and boyhood home was a post-Civil War log cabin in rural Hopkins County. It has since been moved to Madisonville and refurbished, and now stands in a small park on Union Street.
Built about 1865, more than a third of the logs are original, and you can clearly see the marks left by the hand-wielded broad ax. Inside are furnishings from the time Laffoon grew up, including a marble-topped dresser and table that are original to the cabin.
Beside the cabin walls are three gardens maintained and interpreted by the Pennyroyal Herb Club: a medicinal garden, a cooking garden, and a fragrance garden. Each is filled with appropriate herb plants. April being planting time, you are likely to run into one of the herb club members, who'll be glad to fill you in on what is being planted and why.
Next door to the Laffoon Cabin is the Hopkins County Museum, which, like the cabin, is maintained by the local historical society. Filled with furnishings and artifacts, the museum tells the story of Madisonville and Hopkins County.
To tour either building, contact: Hopkins County Historical Society, 107 Union Street, Madisonville, KY 42431, (270) 821-3986.

Outdoor Log
Crappie time

Throughout the Commonwealth, April is synonymous with "crappie." It's now that the big slabs turn on, providing many a fish dinner for area anglers.
Kentucky and Barkley lakes were once the "in" spots for big crappie. But in recent years, fishermen have discovered that many of our waters hold big papermouths. Every year another lake is "discovered" as a previously little known hot spot.
Barren River Lake, near Glasgow, is one of those unknown fisheries where crappie receive only moderate fishing pressure. Yet the success rates, for those in the know, are high.
What keeps the pressure down is the lake's reputation for yielding smaller fish. This is somewhat justified, because most of the population are black crappie, averaging about 10 inches. However, there is also a strong population of white crappie, which average more like 12 inches in length and near a pound in weight.
Overall, this time of year you'll find crappie in the secondary creek channels back in the embayments. They'll be either along the creek channel drop-offs that lead to shallows or, if the water temperature is right, in thin-water spawning areas.
According to Art Lander, author of A Fishing Guide to Kentucky's Major Lakes, "the best crappie fishing is in the tributaries-Beaver, Skaggs, and Peter creeks in the lower lake, and Walnut Creek at midlake."
All the usual crappie tactics work, from pop-eye jigs to hanging a minnow under a bobber. One of the more productive techniques is to rig a pair of lightweight jigs-1/32 to 1/8 ounce-under a bobber. Usually there is enough surface movement to lend an enticing movement to the jigs, and no other action is needed. You have to pay close attention, however, because takes tend to be very gentle and hard to detect-especially when the jigs are suspended eight or more feet below your boat.
Our preferred method is a more active rig we learned from Randall Taylor over on Lake Barkley. Randall threads a 2-inch twisty tail grub onto a 3/8-ounce round-head jig. "You can use any color grub as long as it's white," he says with a grin. Jig head color doesn't seem to matter, and even unpainted ones work.
For information about spring crappie fishing, contact Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources, #1 Gamefarm Road, Frankfort, KY 40601, (800) 858-1549.

Brook and Barbara Elliott are freelance writers and public relations consultants. They write primarily about travel and outdoor recreation, and help publicize businesses in those industries.