Each plant produces a dye color.  Depending on its geography, experienced weather patterns and time of harvest each plant has the potential to produce a color that can vary greatly from other plants of the same species. Introducing specificity of time and place through color.

2022 saw the first year of collaboration between Shari Dutton, Department of Horticulture, and Crystal Gregory, head of Fiber, School of Art and Visual Studies on a dye garden at the Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky. In the spring, Dutton planted 32 native and non native plants. In the late summer and through the fall Gregory worked to harvest and test their dye color. They successfully produced a variety of natural plant colors for textiles ranging from blues and greens to yellows, reds and pink. They created a series of dye recipe books that are stored at the Arboretum and fiber studios. Below are some of our successful results. This is an ongoing collaboration and this site will be updated every year with more plants and deeper research.