With all the storms and hot summer days behind us, everybody must be ready to bring the family for a day of fun. It is a great time to think rolling up your sleeves, pulling out the hoe and diving into autumn planting. Adams County Master Gardeners are here to help!

On Saturday, Sept. 20 starting at 9 am they will be at the annual Jefferson College Copper Magnolia festival with their major Fall Plant Sale and their exciting Fall Educational Program.

The plants will be under the big oak tree just as you enter the grounds of this beautiful college beginning at 9 a.m. and lasting until they sell out. Master Gardeners have been dividing and planting all year to make way for this relaxing and exciting day. It is a great place to start your Fall planting.

At 10:30 a.m. in the West Wing at Jefferson College, Donna H. Beliech, the area horticulturist from Rankin County MSU Extension Service office in Brandon, MS, will speak on fall Color in the landscape. She will inspire us with her charm and knowledge and deep love of plants. She works closely with horticulture businesses, including garden centers, nurseries, and growers, presents educational programs, and finds answers for local plant problems. Donna grew up in Greenville, MS and has a degree in Forestry and another in Horticulture. She loves talking with people about her favorite subject, plants!!! Come on down, grab a seat, and be ready to be motivated with new ideas.

At noon, also in the West Wing, Michael Norell, a local horticulturist zealot and former native of southern California, will talk on “Tropical Herbaceous Ornamentals for Natchez Gardens.” Michael is a gold mine of information and a lover of exotic plants. Having lived in Los Angeles, Honolulu, and now Natchez, he has spent more than 20 years testing unusual and adaptable tropical plants. He holds a degree in Motion Pictures and Television from UCLA, where he also studied Landscape Architecture. Michael works in the music industry and also has a plant sales and design company. In Natchez, he has created his own jungle at Sawyer Gardens, his home on Madison and Pearl. Michael will inspire you to create a topical garden different from any you have had before! You too will be able to call your yard a paradise.

After speakers have educated you, your spirits have been lifted, and your plants purchased, you will know how to spend those cool weather Saturdays in the autumn days ahead. Bring the kids, buy food, or bring a picnic, dance, do the cake walk, purchase the local art work, attend the lectures, buy the plants and enjoy the beginning of fall.

Jefferson College is four miles north of Natchez on Highway 61 and is administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. For information on the Master Gardeners, call Mary Jane Gaudet at 601-445-4822

Mary Jane Gaudet is a member of the Master Gardeners.