The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky (Also known as University of Kentucky Arboretum or Lexington Arboretum), 40 hectares or , is located at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It is open to the public from dawn to dusk every day of the year. The Arboretum hosts 18 tree species native to Kentucky, as well as 80 other native Kentucky plant species. In total, the Arboretum contains more than 1,200 native species. It contains the Kentucky Children's Garden, a Home Demonstration Garden which includes a Vegetable Garden, Herb Garden, Home Fruit and Nuts Garden, a rose garden, a fragrance garden, (including Black, Persian and Japanese Walnuts, Pecan, Shellbark and Shagbark Hickory, Chinese Chestnut as well as dwarf apple cultivars, an American Persimmon and native Pawpaw trees), the All-America Selection Trials Garden, Perennial Collection, Ground Cover Demonstration, Woody Plant Collection, and a "Walk Across Kentucky" that simulates Kentucky's seven regional landscapes: Bluegrass, Knobs, Appalachian Plateaus, Cumberland Mountains, Mississippian Plateaus and Outer Nashville Basin (Pennyroyal), Shawnee Hills, Mississippi Embayment and Alluvial Basin (Jackson Purchase). The separate areas allow the Arboretum to create different learning events based on different parts of Kentucky. The Arboretum is also used widely as a learning environment, bringing in classes from local schools to come and learn with hands-on experiences, like the life cycle of a butterfly. Older nature enthusiasts can attend demonstrations in the home garden demonstration garden. Maintaining the Arboretum The Friends of the Arboretum is an organization that supports the Arboretum. They offer many opportunities for volunteering at the Arboretum. As of 2014 the Director of the Arboretum, Molly Davis, has set many goals such as expansion of the visitor's center and continue to fight against invasive plants. In order to do this the Arboretum needs funding. While the government and personal donations are where the funding comes from now, the Arboretum still needs more funding to expand on things such as a bigger visitors center and an enhanced prairie area. In April 2021, a class studying invasive species from the University of Kentucky went to the Arboretum to try to manage the invasive species. They found wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei), which is a leafy evergreen plant that can take over an area very fast. The team managed to destroy an area of wintercreeper and found that native trillium growing back where the area was. History and events In 1990, land from