How does your garden grow? Does your summer garden shine? Not so?

Then come join with us in an informal afternoon garden seminar co-hosted by Grow Natchez Gardens and Stine Lumber at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, at Stine Garden Center on U.S. 61 South.

You will hear about heat tolerant plants from a representative of Green Leaf Nurseries and about new moisturizing soils being produced by Scott’s Miracle Grow from their representatives.

Kathy, the manager of Stine Garden Center, and gardeners from Grow Natchez Gardens board, will be on hand to share their individual and collective knowledge of methods they have found to produce beautiful gardens and happy gardeners.

There will be ample time for questions and answers. Seating will be available and refreshments will be served. There will be a section of heat tolerant plants suited to our region available.

Grow Natchez Gardens, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed in 2007 by gardening enthusiasts in Natchez to encourage the artistry and beauty of gardens. Our first effort was to produce the Symphony of Gardens Tour.

The officers for 2008 are: President Karen Dardick; Vice President Gail Healy; Secretary Lucy Miller; Treasurer Sim Mosby. Additional board members, Robin Punches, Lani Riches, Lucianne Wood, Paris Winn, Robert Barnes, M.D., Dee Shields, Mary Jay Owens.

We plan to host, in conjunction with other gardening groups and local nurseries, educational seminars throughout the year. It is with this mission to inspire, educate and encourage people to expand their gardening experiences that we approached David Stine with the proposal of this seminar. We appreciate his enthusiastic support.

Plants, much like humans, respond to care, concern and appreciation. They can tell us, if we understand/recognize their language, whether they are in the right spot (I’m drooping cause it’s too dark here), getting enough of the right nutrients (I’m turning yellow cause I need iron, or I need water, or you’re drowning me), being sufficiently watered (my leaves are curling and dropping cause I’m thirsty), protected from the bugs that like to eat them (get these aphids off me), and the fungi that likes to inhabit them (this humidity is giving me black spot; help.). Learning and recognizing their language is one of the main things Grow Natchez Gardens and Stine Garden Center have in common. Our mission is to make gardening a rewarding and pleasant hobby enriching our own lives and that of the community.

By selecting the right plants for this region, and understanding their needs, gardening is a pleasure and produces beauty for the gardener and those who experience the results.

We successfully completed our second annual Symphony of Gardens Tour project last weekend with approximately 400 visitors from all over the U.S. in attendance.

This year’s showcase of 12 private gardens represented diverse design styles, from urban pocket gardens to luxurious estate gardens. Some gardens included lovely water features. Some are designed for outdoor entertaining. Several are secret gardens. Others consisted of garden rooms, leading visitors from vignette to vignette. Plants were also diverse. They included a showcase of roses best suited to Southern gardens, plant collections, easy care plants, showy shrubs and lawns that hold up to heavy foot traffic.

Unusual plants, heirloom plants and new varieties of old favorites are displayed in these gardens, according to each gardener’s personal preferences. The responses we have received from our guests have been exclamations of admiration, appreciation, and inspiration.

So come join us as we further our knowledge and consider adding your garden to a future Symphony of Gardens Tour.

Gail Healy is the Vice-President of Grow Natchez Gardens.