STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Creative landscape experts will offer advice and inspiration to professionals and home gardeners alike at an Oct. 19 design symposium at Mississippi State University.

The 61st Edward C. Martin Jr. Landscape Design Symposium is a half-day event held in the MSU Bost Auditorium from 9 a.m. until noon. The event is presented by the MSU Department of Landscape Architecture and the Garden Clubs of Mississippi. It is coordinated by MSU Extension professor Bob Brzuszek.

Topics covered in this year’s symposium include garden plants, low-maintenance home landscapes and places to experience wildlife. Speakers are Edward C. Martin Jr., MSU professor emeritus in the Department of Landscape Architecture; Bill Fontenot, writer and naturalist from Lafayette, Louisiana; and Kristin Lamberson, native plant specialist at the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

Martin, who started the Landscape Design Symposium 61 years ago, will speak about low-maintenance home landscapes. Fontenot will discuss great garden plants and places for wildlife, and Lamberson will provide perspectives on the wonders of wildlife.

Find more information and to register for the symposium, go to http://lalc.msstate.edu/workshops/martin_symp or contact Debbie Whitfield at 662-325-4554 or dww12@lalc.msstate.edu. Registration is $25 per person by Oct. 1 and $30 after that date.