MISSISSIPPI STATE – Anyone who wants to learn about historic gardens of the South should plan to attend Mississippi State University’s 55th annual Edward C. Martin Jr. Landscape Design Symposium on Oct. 20.

The MSU Department of Landscape Architecture and the Garden Clubs of Mississippi, Inc., sponsor the event each fall to teach participants about landscape architecture and gardening. This year’s theme is the gardens and historic plants of the Antebellum South.

The symposium begins at 9 a.m. in the Bost Center auditorium on MSU’s main campus. MSU Landscape Architecture associate professor and the symposium chairman, Bob Brzuszek, will open with a presentation on the Southern U.S. regional ecology and its contribution to sense of place.

Featured this year will be guest speaker Jim Cothran, the award-winning author of Gardens of Historic Charleston and Gardens and Historic Plants of the Antebellum South. Cothran will speak about the gardens and historic plants of the Antebellum South as well as gardening in small spaces.

“My talk emphasizes distinguishing features of gardens of the period, historic plants and the dissemination of gardening information and fashion, which played an important role in shaping the horticultural and gardening legacy of the South,” Cothran said.

MSU landscape architecture assistant professor Michael Seymour will present on the historic layouts of Mississippi’s town squares. Seymour will discuss how he used old photographs and maps to document the patterns of vegetation, circulation, structures, fencing and furnishings of historical time periods.

A preregistration fee $20 is due by Oct. 15. Attendees can also register the day of the event for $25. Forms are online at http://www.lalc.msstate.edu; click on “Edward Martin Landscape Design Symposium” under the “Coming Events” menu.

Contact Debbie Whitfield at (662) 325-4554 or dww12@lalc.msstate.edu for registration or more information.