At Botanical Belonging, we see the incredible value that comes from reconnecting our community to our native plant communities. To achieve this, we provide hands-on native plant education to not only raise awareness of the issues of local biodiversity loss and their solutions, but to equip and empower local people to take action by planting native plants. Read more about why we’re here >

“…the least I could do was help my students develop a sense of botanical belonging,” Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass.

We’re based in Tonganoxie, Kansas, serving Lawrence, the Kansas City metro area, and everything in between. We offer:

  • Events and programs for adults and children to learn about Kansas native plants, their ecology, and how to garden with them
  • Native plant sales
  • Native plant gardening workshops
  • Field trips to our native plant gardens and prairies in eastern Kansas
  • Field trips offsite to explore native plants in eastern Kansas and western Missouri
  • Native plant experts and educators for hire
Upcoming events

Our Mission & Vision

Our vision is a regional community in which people understand, appreciate, protect, and restore our local native plant communities, both in natural areas and in their home gardens.

Our mission is to provide hands-on educational programming on local ecology and native plant gardening in order to reconnect our community to our native flora.

Our History

The seeds of Botanical Belonging were planted in 2011, when Patti Ragsdale, founder and executive director, purchased 10 acres outside of Tonganoxie with her husband Brent. They named the new property Happy Apple’s Farm after Brent’s late daughter, Vivian, built a house, and moved out to the property full-time in 2014.

Patti found herself with a desire to meet the plants that grew in her new 10-acre yard — a desire that would blossom into a new career. She began cultivating native plants in 2015, first for her own use, then selling them alongside her alpaca fiber at local farmer’s markets. In 2017, Happy Apple’s Farm opened to the public with a new retail space for native plant sales.

But even more than she loved selling plants, she loved talking with guests and educating them about the native plants. She decided to make her educational mission official, launching Botanical Belonging in 2021. The organization registered as a non-profit in February 2022.

Today, Botanical Belonging is about giving people access to a welcoming place to get to know plants. A place to talk with people about plants, to work in the garden together, to walk in the prairie together. Where we’ll all learn alongside each other. Read the full story, as told by Patti >

Our Land

The land that Happy Apple’s Farm occupies, and the surrounding landscapes, are the ancestral and present home of Native People, many of whom are displaced, who shaped this land that we now call Kansas. We acknowledge with sadness the history of forced eviction and exploitation that has made much of this land unavailable to its original inhabitants, including, but not limited to, the Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), Washtáge Moⁿzháⁿ (Kaw/Kansa), Osage, and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux) nations.

Our Community

Botanical Belonging is an equal opportunity organization and does not allow discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, education, or disability in any of its activities or operations. Read our diversity & inclusion statement >

Careers

No open positions at the moment. Volunteer with us or sign up for our email list to be notified of open positions. 

Our Location

Botanical Belonging, Inc. is at:
Happy Apple’s Farm
17524 178th Street
Tonganoxie, KS 66086

Contact Us

Call or text our executive director, Patti Ragsdale, at (816) 260-6417 or send an email to: patti@botanicalbelonging.org

Email us

Follow Us

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and sign up for our email newsletter to keep up-to-date on the latest events and opportunities.

Support Us

Our organization is supported by donations, grants, and proceeds from our native plant sales. You can help us provide hands-on educational programming on local ecology and native plant gardening in a number of ways:

If you are a part of an organization or company that would like to get involved, please reach out to learn more about partnership and sponsorship opportunities!

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