Jakob Twigg
Flowering purple tulips line the path at the K-State Gardens in Manhattan, KS on Wednesday, April 16. In Kansas, tulips bloom from late Marcy to early May.
An extravaganza of color blanketed the walkways of the K-State Gardens, showcasing over 8000 purple and pink tulips in full bloom. Hundreds of community members and Open House visitors enjoyed the windy afternoon on April 12, as professional gardeners educated them on the local and regional flora.
Director of the K-State Gardens, Scott McElwain, said the Open House perfectly coincided with the tulip bloom this year.
“Every year, we are open during K-State Open House, and we’ll have volunteers scattered throughout the garden answering questions,” McElwain said. “The last few years, we’ve been doing it in extravaganza, and that’s when our tulips are at their peak bloom. It gives us an opportunity to invite people to take photographs of them and the families make contributions to the gardens.”
For a $30 donation, visitors could have their picture taken with the blooming tulips or with the Easter Bunny in a family-oriented egg-extravaganza area.
At the event, K-State’s student horticulture club sold bedding plants, such as free marigold and an array of annuals, herbs and rare house plants. Club president Carter Dewey said the proceeds fund the club’s annual trip to the National Collegiate Landscape Competition.
“NCLS is normally over spring break, and we’ll do something fun at the beginning of the week,” Dewey said. “You then have a big career fair that is horticulture-based with a lot of landscape companies, and then you have actual landscape competitions. … It’s a really fun time and a really good learning opportunity.”
McElwain said the gardens receive over 80% of their funding from private donations and annual fundraisers.
“The gardens are free and open to the public, and they are not part of the university’s budget,” McElwain said. “It’s an outdoor living learning laboratory for students, but it’s also a community garden that’s open to the public to come in and have a relaxing experience. We have so many people that are new to our community that can come in and learn about plants in the region, they’re trying to build their landscape in their new home.”
Cheryl Young, Friends of the Gardens president, said the K-State Gardens is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2025 with a yearlong series of events, including the upcoming “Run for the Roses” 5K on April 26.
“We have the 5k run and the 1k walk, so if people don’t want to run, they can walk,” Young said. “We could have in the neighborhood of five to 700 people just running, and then we have a lot of other people to come and participate and just look around. We’ll have face painters, we’ll have Willie the Wildcat and we’ll have part of the K-State marching band. We have celebrity runners — President Linton, Adam Walker from the alumni association and more.”
Young said the Friends of the Gardens want more students to know the gardens are always free and open to the public.
“We want the students to feel that they can come here as well … it’s not just for older people, but for the students as well,” Young said. “They are welcome to get involved with the gardens, it’s just a nice place to come and hang out.”