MISSISSIPPI STATE – Visitors to the South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville on Oct. 7 will have the chance to spend the day focusing on ornamental horticulture.

The 37th Annual Ornamental Horticulture Field Day will offer tours of the trial gardens at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station branch. There will also be research updates from Mississippi State University and U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service researchers.

Registration begins at 9 a.m., and the program will run from 9:30 a.m. through lunch. The $10 registration fee, or $6.50 for students, covers lunch and refreshments.

Topics will include new plants, landscape plant performance, entomology, plant pathology, plant breeding and home horticulture. Attendees can tour the trial and display gardens and view ornamental plants that perform well through the hot, humid summer of south Mississippi.

The South Mississippi Branch Station is located at 711 W. North Street, across from Pearl River Community College. From the intersection of highways 11 and 26, go half a mile north on Highway 11 and then one block west on West North Street. For more information, contact Eugene Blythe at (601) 795-4525.