Patti Ragsdale
Founder and Executive Director
- Home base: Happy Apple’s Farm, Tonganoxie, KS
- Day job: You’re looking at it!
- Favorite native plant: Lady’s tresses orchids (Spiranthes sp.)
- Favorite book: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Andie Perdue
Associate Executive Director
- Home base: Rural Lawrence, KS
- Day job: This! And I offer services as a nonprofit Communications Consultant
- Favorite native plant: Button Blazing Star (Liatris aspera)
- Favorite: I love animals! I have chickens, turkeys, ducks, donkeys and pigs on my hobby farm 🙂
Jenni Baxter
Grower
- Home base: Linwood, Kansas
- Day job: Growing native plants for Botanical Belonging
- Favorite native plant: Leadplant (Amorpha canescens)
Our Board of Directors
Cara Weeks Neuburger
Board Vice President
- Home base: McLouth, KS
- Day job: Art therapist | Sunflower Art Therapy
- Favorite native plant: Goldenrod (Solidago)
- Favorite artist: Joseph Cornell
Amy Gordon Ames
Board Secretary
- Home base: De Soto, KS
- Day job: Volunteer for groups that inspire her (formerly a family physician)
- Favorite native plant: Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Favorite movie: The Biggest Little Farm
Jen Wewers
Board Treasurer
- Home base: North Overland Park, KS
- Day job: Executive Director | Prairie Sky Counseling Center
- Favorite native plant: Purple Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata)
- Favorite: Kansas sunsets
Melanie Hall
Board Member
- Home base: Olathe, KS
- Day job: Owner-Agent | Wild Prairie Real Estate
- Favorite native plant: Parlin’s pussytoes (Antennaria parlinii)
- Favorite garden critter: Jumping spiders
Lora Pellegrin
Board Member
- Home base: Historic East Lawrence, Kansas
- Day job: Consulting Utility Forester
- Favorite native plant: Hackberry (Celtis occidentlis)
- Favorite place: I have a deep love for the Kaw Valley and the Flint Hills