MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Serious gardeners or those who just like to look at pretty plants and flowers will enjoy the Sept. 25 North Mississippi Garden Expo at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona.

The expo is free and open to the public. Tours and other activities begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 1 p.m.

Visitors can tour the center's Magnolia Botanical Gardens, as well as areas devoted to fruit and vegetable plantings, turf grass and ornamental plants. For the second year, the "Scarecrow Trail" will wind through the expo site. Along the trail, visitors will find examples of traditional scarecrows, as well as more artistic and creative garden guardians.

Vendors will have plants for sale and the "plant doctor" will be on hand to diagnose sick plants and offer tips on keeping plants healthy.

Featured speakers for the expo include Gail Barton and Plato Touliatos. Barton, coordinator of horticulture technology programs at Meridian Community College, will discuss backyard nursery propagation. Touliatos is the owner of Trees by Touliatos in Memphis, Tenn. His presentation is "Gardening with Mother Nature."

The event is sponsored by the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

For additional information, contact event coordinator Crofton Sloan at (662) 566-2201.