More than 6,000 visitors are anticipated this year at the 38th Annual Fall Flower and Garden Fest at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs on Oct. 14 and 15.

Nineteen different seminars, nine workshops and walking tours, plus countless exhibits and retail vendors will delight gardeners and other visitors between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. both days.

There will be free soil testing, a plant doctor to answer questions and a plant swap organized by the Madison County Master Gardeners, if you are willing to bring one or two plants to swap.

As always, there will be lots of good food, plants and accessories for sale all day with no charge to attend or park.

Warren County Master Gardeners will be there with some new additions to the shade garden that the group originally created 23 years ago. It is an area that was predominately void of grass or much other vegetation under a group of mature oak trees before they started.

With shade-loving plants from their own yards and a few purchases, they developed an inviting display garden where visitors can walk through and see hardy plants that can be used in similar conditions in their own home landscapes.

Visitors can also pick up a copy of the group’s Plants for Shady Spots brochure, talk with Master Gardeners or just sit and rest for a few minutes on one of the benches they built for the area.

There are permanent plantings featuring shrubs, ferns, perennials, groundcovers and vines that consistently do great in dry shade accented by shade loving annuals for that extra splash of color and texture.

Last year was a tough one for the shade garden due to the severe drought conditions. Several shrubs and perennials that had made it through other dry spells just disappeared.

In doing so, an opportunity for the Master Gardeners to plant some new additions occurred. They added several  plants that have recently  hit the retail market including Mahonia “Soft Caress,” Nandina “Lemon Lime,” and Carex, “Everillo.”

Camellia sasanqua “Shishi Gashira,” acuba, Turk’s Cap, astilbe, Christmas and wood fern were also added plus annual begonias, New Guinea impatiens and coleus.

The seminar schedule offers a variety of topics including How to Boost Your Home’s Curb Appeal, Making Fruit Smoothies, Raising Backyard Chickens, Preventing Zika and West Nile Virus, Growing Fruits and Vegetables in an Urban Landscape, Controlling Fire Ants, Attracting Butterflies, All-America Selections for Home Gardens and more.

Check out the container garden tent or the pond management workshop plus various walking tours including herbs, landscape plants, vegetables, flower and insect ID tours led by Extension personnel who are knowledgeable experts in these areas.

If you haven’t been, you are missing one of central Mississippi’s best gardening events of the year.

The Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station is located in Crystal Springs, 25 miles south of Jackson on Highway 51, Exit 68 off I-55.

To see times and other details related to the seminar schedule visit their website at extension.msstate.edu/fallfest or check out their facebook page (Fall Flower & Garden Fest) and follow on Twitter @MSUFallFest.

The Fall Fest has also gone mobile! Download Guidebook for Apple or Android to your phone or tablet, then search for “FallFest.”

The Landscape Design Symposium is another annual October gardening event that offers advice and inspiration to home gardeners as well as professionals. Dr Edward Martin, Professor Emeritus with the Department of Landscape Architecture at Mississippi State University, who started the symposium in conjunction with The Garden Clubs of Mississippi Inc. 61 years ago, returns as a presenter this year.  He is always a treat to hear and will present “The Low Maintenance Home Landscape of a Landscape Architect.”

Other presenters include writer, birder and naturalist from Lafayette, La., Bill Fontenot on “Great Garden Plants and Places” and Strawberry Plains Audubon Center’s Kristin Lamberson on “Perspectives and Wonders.”

The event is Oct. 19 at Bost Auditorium on the Mississippi State Campus from 9 a.m. to noon.

There is a charge of $30 at the door to attend but it is always worth the time and money to hear the caliber of professionals who participate in the symposium.

For more information contact Debbie Whitfield at 662-325-4554.